Gold for Eight Oars, Two from Radcliffe

The U.S. women's eight-oared crew triumphed in London, with two alumnae aboard.

U.S. oarswomen Esther Lofgren ’09  (third from left ), who rowed in the #3 seat,  and Caryn Davies ’05 (second from right), who stroked the boat, celebrate with teammates after winning their Olympic gold medals.

The U.S. women’s eight-oared crew won the gold medal in its final London Olympics race on the course at Eton Dorney on Thursday, August 2.  By finishing in 6:10:59 to defeat the silver-medal boat from Canada by nearly a second and a half, the Americans succeeded in defending the Olympic championship their eight captured at Beijing in 2008 and added a third gold medal to the U.S. record in this event. (The first came at Los Angeles in 1984.) The Canadian team finished in 6:12.06, while the Netherlands took the bronze in 6:13.12. The New York Times report on the race includes a visually beautiful three-minute video on the crew.

Two rowers in the victorious boat, Caryn Davies ’05 and Esther Lofgren ’09, rowed for the Radcliffe crew as undergraduates. They appear in a roundup of Crimson athletes at the London Games.  In addition, Davies was profiled in Harvard Magazine in 2003, and the Harvard Crimson ran a profile of Lofgren this year. Lofgren’s blog, “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger,” narrates her Olympic adventures. 

 

You might also like

Housing in the Climate Crosshairs

A Harvard briefing on climate change and the U.S. housing crisis

Trump Administration Aims at Harvard Funding

Part of concerted effort to target campuses labeled antisemitic

Improving Harvard College and Graduate School Discipline

After the 2024 encampment, a Faculty of Arts and Sciences committee recommends changes.

Most popular

Bill Gates on AI and Innovation

At Harvard, the Microsoft co-founder discusses his biography—and artificial intelligence. 

The Downsides of Prozac

Harvard researchers discuss the side effects of Prozac and other SSRIs

Social Media Use and Adult Depression

A survey reveals suprising links between social media use and depression in adults.

Explore More From Current Issue

Harvard's Tom Kane on Effective School Reforms

Tom Kane deploys data to help improve education.

Teen "Grind" Culture and Mental Health

Teens need better strategies to cope with lives lived partly online.

“AI Anxiety”

The Undergraduate on the uneasy collision of technology and writing