PARIS, France — Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium will be the site of all the rowing and canoe/kayak competitions at the Paris Olympics.
It is also where the Pacific Northwest, specifically the University of Washington, is the most well-represented at these Olympics.
Western Washington has three athletes in sprint canoe, Nevin Harrison and Aaron Small from Seattle, and Jonas Ecker from Bellingham. Additionally, 18 rowers have ties to the Pacific Northwest, 17 from the University of Washington, and three coaches from the UW are in Paris.
There may be no richer tradition regarding University of Washington athletics than the Huskies' Olympics rowing history. The rich history goes back to "The Boys in the Boat," where the UW men's crew team brought home a gold medal from the 1936 Berlin Games.
No other college rowing program will have more alumni competing at the 2024 Olympic Games than Washington.
"Rowing at the University of Washington teaches you how to work hard," said Evan Olson, former UW rower and USA Olympic rower. "That's the number one thing that I learned in my time rowing at UW, it teaches you how to work hard. You know, like any time that you think like you're there, or you've made it you have not, you know, there's levels to the game. One thing that I that I think is really cool here (at UW) is that no one is the best at anything. You have guys that are really strong on the ERG or you have guys that are strong in the weight room, or you have guys that are good in small boats.
"But no one is the best at everything. And I think that's really special because like other teams, you just have superstars, like here, there's so much talent and there's so much potential. Like no one has the ability to be the best at anything."