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Team USA Rowing wins dramatic race for first gold medal in six decades at Paris Olympics

profilephotocropby:Suzanne Halliburton•08/01/24•

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team usa olympic rowing
Sarah Phipps-USA TODAY Sports

No wonder there was an emotional celebration Thursday when Team USA earned a gold medal in rowing at the Paris Olympics. The last time it happened, Dwight Eisenhower was president and some band in England named themselves the Beatles.

It took 64 years for the United States to win another gold medal in men’s rowing fours. Whereas the one in 1960 was from Rome, the Americans earned this Olympics gold medal at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium about 25 miles east of Paris.

Team USA won the rowing gold by holding off New Zealand, beating them by a second to the finish line. Great Britain, three seconds later, earned bronze. It was a big upset in Olympic rowing. Great Britain is the defending world champs. The event is called men’s four because the boat features four rowers.

The Americans in the boat were Michael Grady, Nick Mead, Justin Best and Liam Corrigan.

Have a look at the gold medal race and how tight it was for the victors.

Team USA owned lead at every checkpoint

Although their advantage was whisper thin, the United States owned the time advantage at every 500-meter checkpoint over the 2000-meter course.

“The words exist, I think, but I can’t put them together right now about how that feels,” said Best, who wiped away tears while atop the medal podium.

Although it had been 64 years, the men in the men’s four boat believed they could win a rowing gold at the Paris Olympics. After all, the four earned silver at the 2023 world championships.

The Americans led throughout, but the team needed to hold back the hard-charging New Zealand squad who was eating into their time advantage. But Corrigan called red. Basically, that’s a code red.

“You know when he makes that call, you see red,” Best told reporters. “You put your bow ball out in front, you take some of the bigger strokes that you take in the race. It’s not necessarily the smartest race plan, but it’s something psychology-wise, you can take two to three seats.”