Five Dartmouth alumni and one undergraduate student will compete in the Paris 2024 Olympics from July 26 to Aug. 11.
Six Dartmouth alumni and undergraduate students participated in the 2024 U.S. and Canadian Olympic Trials with hopes of earning a spot in the competition. Others, such as Ariana Ramsey ’22, will attend the Olympics without competing in trials. Ramsey was selected for the 2024 U.S. women’s rugby sevens team, which did not hold trials.
Ramsey — who previously represented the United States at the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics —said she entered this year’s team with greater confidence.
“I was more sure this year that I was going to make the team than I was last [time] because I was a rookie and I was the youngest on the team,” she said. “I’m still the youngest on the team, but I was more sure this time. … I think this time around I want to be more determined and feel more prepared to play and actually win.”
In addition to increased confidence in her own capabilities, Ramsey said she believes this year’s women’s rugby team — composed of 14 players — is more equipped to succeed than it was last year.
“I think our team is way better than it was last Olympics, I can definitely say that,” Ramsey said. “We have the numbers to prove it.”
Billy Bender ’24, who qualified for the 2024 U.S. Rowing Men’s Pair in Sarasota, Fla. in April, said his preparation process has gradually been shifting as the opening ceremony of the Olympics approaches. He added that he feels excited leading up to the start of this year’s Olympics.
“It feels great,” Bender said. “We’re getting pretty close now, so … the training’s starting to change. We’re in the final [preparations], so we’re doing less and less volume and more and more intensity.”
Bender said he met and trained with his pair, Oliver Bub ’20, at the California Rowing Club last winter.
“[Bub] was looking for a partner and so we would run some pairs [matrices], and it seemed like we matched up pretty well,” Bender said. “Our pair was going pretty fast, so [California Rowing Club coach] Mike Teti suggested that we race the pair together.”
Bender said training for the Olympics has not been significantly different than past training camps for competitions.
“[My] preparation for the Olympics isn’t too different from [my] preparation for the world championships, or really any race,” Bender said. “I think the thing that’s been different for me this year is that I took most of the year off, so I was off winter and spring of this year.”
Emma Gao ’27 and Logan Pack ’27 both participated in the 2024 Canadian Olympic Trials for swimming, held in Toronto in May, but fell short of making the national team. Gao said the Trials’ location — at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre — helped her feel more comfortable at the race, since the Centre was her “home pool.” She described the experience as both “pretty stressful” and “pretty cool.”
“Honestly, I didn’t think mentally it was any different from another meet that I had been to because it was at my home pool,” she said. “You got to see a lot of really cool Olympians that had been to the Olympics in the past … and then a new wave of swimmers too. A lot of my friends made the Olympic team, [and] that was pretty cool to watch.”
While Gao said her experience mirrored other meets, Pack said swimming at the trials felt like “a different sport.”
“Normally you go to a meet just to swim fast, and it was just different because normally it’s just not a big thing in swimming, having to qualify for a team,” Pack said. “With the trials … it was just a different experience.”
Looking toward the Olympics, Bender said he hopes to race in the competition with no regrets.
“We want to finish the race feeling that we did everything we possibly could to go fast,” Bender said. “[We want to feel] like there’s nothing else we could’ve done in retrospect to make us go faster.”
Beyond winning a medal, Ramsey said she hopes to make the most of the global media attention surrounding the Olympics. She explained that, other than winning, “the only other route to success” for athletes is “social media and content.”
“I do want to take advantage of that this time around and just try to produce more content and capture those moments,” Ramsey said. “I don’t want to get distracted by them, so it’s going to be some sort of balance between [training and engaging with social media].”
All four athletes emphasized the immense support and encouragement they found in their respective Dartmouth communities.
“I had a lot of support, which was really, really nice,” Pack said. “[My Dartmouth coaches] were so gracious with dealing with my [back] injury and they were very helpful through training and just guiding me through that. Same with my club coaches at home.”
Gao said both her teammates and peers supported her throughout the Trials by texting and calling her.
“The support from my teammates was always there and [from] my family and friends,” Gao said. “That really helped me get through it because … spring term is always a fun time to be around, and it’s just hard to look at everyone else having fun and being like, ‘Oh I got to go to practice.’”
Bender said he encountered a similarly supportive environment in the Dartmouth rowing team. He credited men’s heavyweight rowing head coach Wyatt Allen for promoting a culture of inclusion within the team.
“I think it’s been a really conscious effort on the team’s behalf to make sure everyone is brought in together,” Bender said. “We enjoy spending time with each other, we enjoy being down at the boathouse. And I think that’s helped me for sure develop a lot. I’m sure [Bub] would say the same thing.”
Ramsey also said Dartmouth’s athletics programs foster a tight-knit culture — even after leaving the Dartmouth community. She explained that she has seen Dartmouth coaches at U.S. rugby events “many times,” while the women’s rugby team “always reposts” her content and “show[s] love all the time.”
“I still talk to my rugby friends,” she added. “They support me so much and I still support them. [...] It feels like I’m still a part of the community, and that’s why I love Dartmouth so much.”
In addition to Ramsey, Bender and Bub, Molly Reckford ’15 will be competing in the lightweight women’s double sculls and Madison Hughes ’17 will compete with the men’s U.S. rugby team for the third time. Isalys Quiñones ’19 Th’20 will compete with the Puerto Rican women’s basketball team for the second time.
Men’s heavyweight rowing coach Wyatt Allen will also participate on the Team USA coaching staff, while men’s tennis volunteer assistant coach Casey Ratzlaff will compete in wheelchair tennis at the 2024 Paris Paralympics, Dartmouth News reported.
The opening ceremony for the Paris 2024 Olympics will take place on July 26, according to the Olympics website. Primetime coverage of the event will take place at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock, according to NBCUniversal’s website.
Update Appended (July 15, 11:34 p.m.): The article has been updated to reflect that Molly Reckford ’15 and Madison Hughes ’17 will also be competing in the Paris Olympics.
Update Appended (July 23, 3:03 p.m.): The article has been updated to reflect that Isalys Quiñones ’19 Th’20 and men’s tennis volunteer assistant coach Casey Ratzlaff will also compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics and Paralympics, respectively. Moreover, men’s heavyweight rowing coach Wyatt Allen will participate on the Team USA coaching staff. The lede and deck also have been updated to share the breakdown of former and current students — five alumni and one undergraduate — competing in the Olympics.
