Hannah Scott ’21 and her Great Britain team trailed the Netherlands for about 1,980 of the 2,000 meters in the Olympic quadruple sculls final before sprinting to a photo finish at Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium July 31.
Scott “had a gut feeling” that the late push had been enough to win gold, she told PAW. “I didn’t want to celebrate too early because I didn’t want to be wrong.”
When the official results showed Great Britain on top, by 0.15 seconds, there was no holding back. Scott rejoiced with her family, friends from her home in Northern Ireland, former Princeton crewmates, and (later) a crowd of approximately 12,000 at the Eiffel Tower Champions Park. By week’s end, she was operating on limited sleep and her voice was uncharacteristically hoarse, but the thrill remained.
Scott’s gold was the first medal for a Princetonian at the Paris Olympics. Two more golds quickly followed as rower Nick Mead ’17 and the United States led wire to wire in the men’s four and fencer Maia Weintraub ’25 helped the U.S. to a team victory in the women’s foil, both on Aug. 1. Rower Tom George ’18 won silver for Great Britain in the men’s pair Aug. 2.
Mead capped the Olympics with another memorable experience, serving as a flagbearer for the U.S. alongside swimming superstar Katie Ledecky at the closing ceremony.
A record 25 Princeton alumni and students represented their countries at the Paris Olympics — 11 veterans and 14 first-timers. They ranged in age from 34-year-old Kareem Maddox ’11, who helped the injury-hampered U.S. men’s 3x3 basketball team win two games in pool play, to 19-year-olds Sabrina Fang ’27 and Tatiana Nazlymov ’27, fencers for Canada and the United States, respectively.
U.S. fencer Hadley Husisian ’26, who made her Olympic debut in the women’s individual epee, described her experience waiting to be hear her name announced at the fencing arena at the Grand Palais. “I couldn’t see anything happening on the strips outside and the crowd was overwhelmingly loud,” she said in a message to PAW, “but for a moment all the nerves disappeared and I started thinking of all the work I’d put in and the support I’d received from friends, family, coaches, and teammates to get me to that exact moment.”
Emily Kallfelz ’19 and Kelsey Reelick ’14 (U.S. women’s four), Claire Collins ’19 (U.S. women’s eight), and Tim Masters ’15 (Australia, men’s four) rowed in the A finals of their events. Beth Yeager ’26 helped the U.S. women’s field hockey team earn its first win in Olympic competition since 2016. Ashleigh Johnson ’17 and Jovana Sekulic ’26 of the U.S. women’s water polo team narrowly missed out on a bronze medal, losing to the Netherlands on a last-second goal.
In track and field, Great Britain’s Lizzie Bird ’17 kept pace in a speedy women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase final, placing seventh in 9:04.35 to set a national record. “It was an amazing experience — especially the support in the stadium,” Bird told PAW. “The crowd was so loud I couldn’t hear myself breathing!”
Even a disappointing day of competition can yield profound moments for athletes and their families. Consider Obiageri Amaechi ’21, who represented Nigeria in the women’s discus throw but did not advance from the qualification round. When Amaechi was growing up in San Francisco, she told PAW, her father, Richard, worked 14-hour days to make ends meet and never had the chance to watch his daughter’s track meets.
“For my dad to be retired and able to fly to Europe to see me compete at the Olympics really represents how far my family has come,” Amaechi said. “I got very emotional seeing my family in the crowd as I took my warm-up throws, and Sandra Elkasević of Croatia encouraged me by saying. ‘Don’t cry, make them proud.’”