SEATTLE — Evan Olson from Bothell was inspired to row after reading “The Boys in the Boat” as a teenager, but after finishing his Washington rowing career in the third varsity eight boat, he took a break from competing.
Rielly Milne from Woodinville was a stellar coxswain for Washington, but after spending time training with the national team, he left the sport and figured he was done for good.
Michael Callahan won his eighth national title last month as the coach of Washington, his alma mater. He was a member of the 2004 U.S. Olympic rowing team as a spare (alternate) for the gold-medal winning U.S. eight.
Twenty years later, Callahan is the coach of the U.S. men’s eight that will try to win a gold medal in the Paris Olympics, a boat that includes Olson and Milne, and also two others who competed at Washington: Chris Carlson and Pieter Quinton.
“When you see these guys excelling at the Olympic level, there’s a lot of pride in seeing that,” Callahan said. “I’ve felt really invested in them for a long time.”
Eight of the nine men in the U.S. eight boat (the coxswain is the ninth member) will be making their Olympics debut this month, but the Americans showed they are a top contender for a medal after finishing a very close second to two-time defending world champion Great Britain in the World Cup last month.
“This is some of the best rowing in the world and to get to watch it every day,” Callahan said. “To be a part of trying to help these guys reach the top of the podium, there is nothing more inspiring than that.”
Several more Husky rowers will also be competing in Paris. The women are Nina Castagna (U.S.) in the eight, Holly Dunford (Great Britain) in the eight, Aisha Rocek (Italy) in the eight; Teal Cohen (U.S.) in the four sculls, Tabea Schendekehl (Germany) in the four sculls, Phoebe Spoors (New Zealand) in the four and Jessica Thoennes (U.S) in the pair.
The other Husky men competing are Jacob Dawson (Great Britain) in the eight, Gert-Jan van Doorn (Netherlands) in the eight, Logan Ullrich (New Zealand) in the four, Ben Davison (U.S.) in the double sculls and Simon van Dorp (Netherland) in the single sculls.
A life-changing book
Olson’s athletic course — and his life — changed when his mother suggested he read “The Boys in the Boat” in 2013.
Olson, who turned 16 that summer, had a revelation after reading about the Washington Husky rowers who won the gold medal at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin.
“I read the book and I’m like, ‘Oh, I could be a good rower,’” said the 6-foot-6 Olson, who had not had much success running track and cross-country. “I was, ‘I have the build for it and I want to row at UW.’ So I picked up rowing in 2014 and then I went to UW.”
Olson was in four boats that won national championships as a Husky: in the freshman eight, in the second varsity eight as a sophomore and in the third varsity eight in his last two seasons. But having never raced in the Huskies’ top boat, it would have been hard to predict he would be a future Olympian.
After finishing at UW in 2019, he competed that summer in the U-23 World Championships and finished sixth in the U.S. four. But the next few years, he mostly rowed recreationally.
“I worked for a moving company, I worked in manufacturing and then I started coaching my old high school club at the Pocock Rowing Center from December 2019 through February 2022,” he said.
During that time, Olson started dabbling in other sports, including boxing, jujitsu and rock climbing, which he said helped his athleticism and his rowing.
“There are a lot of really good ways to get good at rowing besides rowing itself,” Olson said. “Rowing is hard and it’s a terrible way to get good at rowing because it just sucks all the time. There are a lot more fun ways to get good at rowing, just general sports and moving your body.”
Even in the years that Olson was not rowing competitively, he figured he would return. He did not believe he had reached his potential at UW and wondered how good he could be. He remembered a conversation he had with a friend in 2021.
“We were talking about our plans and I said maybe I can try to do the 2024 Olympics,” Olson said. “And he’s like, ‘You’re crazy. That’s (in) three years. There’s no way you can do it.’ But I always had the idea that it was possible.”
In 2022, Olson decided to move to England in pursuit of a bucket-list item: winning a race at the famed Henley Royal Regatta outside London. He enrolled at Oxford Brookes University and rowed there.
“I knew that they were fast and I was, ‘OK, if I want to win Henley, I should go where they win Henley the most.’ So that’s what I did,” Olson said.
Olson was on the winning boat last year in the Ladies Challenge Plate at Henley, and he also finished fifth in the pair at the 2023 World Rowing Championships.
That helped earn him an invitation to the U.S. Olympic selection camp, where he was picked to be on the U.S. eight. The ascent from being out of the sport to being on the U.S. Olympic team was not as surprising to him as it might have been to others.
“I knew what I was capable of,” he said. “And because of that, I kind of knew where I was going to ultimately end up. You don’t go around telling people that you’re going to go to the Olympics, but in the back of my head, I knew what I could do.”
‘Following in the same footsteps’
The U.S. eight is scheduled to compete in heat racing on July 29 in Paris. The final is scheduled for August 3.
Milne said his peak nervousness will come the night before competition.
“It’s because I worry about things breaking or someone waking up and saying they have sickness or are sore,” he said. “But at the starting line, it will probably be when I’m the most calm because it means we warmed up and nothing broke and we’re locked in on time.”
Olson said he never envisions what might happen after a race. He is focused on the start.
“When I train, I don’t think I’m training now so I can go win a gold medal,” Olson said. “What I’m thinking about is I’m training now so that when I line up on the start line against the fastest crews in the world, I know I’ve done everything I possibly can to put myself in the best position to win.”
And it all started for him when he read “The Boys in the Boat.”
“Joe Rantz was just the coolest guy ever and he sat in the seven seat in the 1936 Olympic Games,” Olson said. “Now, 10 years after I read the book, I’m sitting in seat seven on the 2024 American eight at the Olympic Games. I’m following in the same footsteps.”
