“A risk that paid off”: Three rowers from Dartmouth earn Olympic berths
Oliver Bub ’20 and Billy Bender ’24 won the men’s pair at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic team trials in Sarasota, Florida, on April 7. The pair will compete in the men’s pair event in the Paris Summer Olympics in 2024, representing the United States.
Additionally, Molly Reckford ’15 made it to the Olympics in the lightweight women’s double sculls competition. Reckford will compete in the lightweight women’s double sculls in her second Olympics in 2024. Together with partner Michelle Sechser, who will again accompany Reckford in Paris, she placed sixth in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Bender expressed his excitement about taking on a former Dartmouth student. The two Big Green athletes first connected as a rowing pair at the California Rowing Club, where they met last winter. According to Bender, Bub gave him “a foot in the door” into the world of rowing.
“Going to the Olympics with someone you like and respect—who’s also from Dartmouth—is cool,” Bender remarked. “We know everyone, and we’ve shared a lot of experiences, even though we never overlapped at Dartmouth.”
I was the worst recruit out of 12 guys, so Wyatt Allen definitely took a chance on me,” Bender stated. “I was in the 1V boat by my freshman year, and the team placed second at the IRA National Championship.”
Bender and Evan Olson finished fifth in the World Championships last summer. Bender claimed that after his Worlds victory, he became aware that competing in the Olympics was a “possibility.” As a result, he took this past winter and spring term off to prepare for the trials and, going forward, the Olympics with Bub.
Teammate Jacob Hudgins ’23 praised Bender’s tenacity, pointing out that he had to overcome multiple obstacles in order to qualify for the Olympics.
According to Hudgins, “he went on to place fifth at worlds, which was the best a U.S. rower has done in a long time, after getting cut from selection camp for the eight boat for the American team.” “He wasn’t guaranteed to make it to the Olympics, but everyone had faith in him, and he had faith in himself as well.”
January was when Bub and Bender started full-time training for the Olympic trials.
“We’ve been training in Sarasota since I started training at an altitude camp at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado a month ago,” Bender stated.
At the Olympic qualification regatta in Switzerland, it was race day following four months of rigorous training. Strong winds that day meant that Bub and Bender expected the race to be quite slow. The two were in fourth place after the first 1,000 meters. Hudgins, who was a spectator during the race, described it as “nerve-wracking.”
Hudgins continued, “But I don’t think Billy gets nervous in that way.” “I don’t think he’s nervous if he knows he can do it.”
The two picked up speed beyond the 1,000-meter mark. The boat was “open on the other crews, and we were kind of just in survive and advance mode,” according to Bub, after a string of powerful strokes.
He stated, “We were aware of the stakes.” “We concentrated intensely to make sure we didn’t make any mistakes in the final 500 meters.”
The two will return to the California Rowing Club for a month in order to get ready for Paris, and after that, they will go to Switzerland to race in the World Cup. After that, according to Bender, they’ll be ready for six more weeks in Hanover and Princeton, New Jersey. They will row with Team USA in Italy for their last training leg. Bender continued, saying that in order to avoid “jinxing” trials, the two had no “set in stone” training program.
Bender continued by saying that he graduated a year later than expected in order to compete at the Olympic trials because he decided to take a chance by skipping the winter and spring terms of 2024.
His statement read, “I should be graduating this spring because I’m a [member of the Class of 2024].” It was a risk for me to decide to skip the winter and spring of this year because I had no idea how the race would turn out and my Olympic spot was up for grabs. However, the gamble paid off.
Hudgins continued, saying that Bender’s absence left a void in the Dartmouth squad.
Hudgins remarked, “It [was] definitely tough to not have Billy this year. He’s a great leader on the team.” He obviously had solid grounds for taking a year off. It’s difficult because, in addition to being an excellent rower, he does offer a lot of cultural assistance. Billy is well-liked by the team and provides positive energy.
Bender’s self-belief inspires him, according to men’s heavyweight coxswain Sammy Houdaigui ’25, who also noted that Bender has “carved out every opportunity that he gets.”
“The only thing I’ve learned at Dartmouth is to always support Billy Bender,” Houdaigui remarked. “During his whole rowing career, he never received anything…He had to really carve himself his own route even to get to the Olympics. Billy’s strength is in his self-belief; it’s simple to support someone who has such confidence in themselves.
It would be impossible to discover that Bender is among the top rowers in the nation, according to Houdaigui.
Houdaigui described him as “just incredibly humble and cares about the work and the team.” “Those two things are his top priorities.”
Despite the fact that they only got together last winter, Bub remarked that he and Bender click well together.
“There is just something about the way we row [that] matches up on the water,” Bub remarked. “It’s also easy off the water, and I think that’s important.”
According to Houdaigui, the Dartmouth rowing community watched the trial together and intends to watch the summer Olympics.
Houdaigui remarked, “The program is fantastic because everyone on the squad and in all the boats is watching it.” “You have first-years who haven’t spent much time with Bender, and they’re going crazy over him.” Guys who graduated three years ago are obsessed with it on old group chats.
Cooper Tuckerman, 23, will row in an Olympic qualifying regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland on May 19–21 in order to guarantee his spot, according to Dartmouth Sports. According to Houdagui, Dartmouth’s recent achievements demonstrate the college’s dominance in the US rowing scene.
According to Houdagui, “it’s just proof that Dartmouth is the place to be if you’re an American.” “In collegiate rowing, we are the only truly American majority program.”