Rowing at Paris 2024: Meet Team USA’s women’s eight fighting to return to Olympic glory
For three consecutive Olympic Games, the United States’ women’s eight dominated the rowing scene and refused to take anything but gold. In 2008, 2012 and 2016, the American women were Olympic champions. They even saw success in Athens 2004, where they took silver.
But, at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, the women failed to land on the podium at all. It was the first time in two decades that they walked out of the Games empty handed, with no hardware to take home at all.
After a repeated defeat with a fourth place finish at the 2022 World Rowing Championships, the United States women are taking control of their fate as they work to land their country back on top of the podium in just over one month at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
With an even mix of Olympic veterans and newcomers, just one athlete has experienced the ultimate high of Olympic glory and the contrasting low that was a fourth-place-empty-handed finish: Meghan Musnicki.
Three more of the rowers were members of the Tokyo 2020 eight, with an additional two having raced in the four and one that served as the alternate at the previous Games. Meet the nine women in charge of landing the United States back on top of the podium at Paris 2024.
As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024
The United States' first Olympic gold of the three-peat streak that began at the Olympic Games Beijing 2008. The nine women stood to salute their flag as their anthem played on August 17, 2008 in Beijing, China.
Cristina Castagna
Coxswain Cristina (Nina) Castagna will be leading the United States women’s eight as the nine women attempt to avenge their Tokyo 2020 loss and bring the United States back on top. Castagna, who graduated from the University of Washington in 2023, coxed the eight to the silver at the 2023 World Rowing Championships for her first international appearance with the United States National Team. Sticking with the eight, she took the bronze at the 2024 World Rowing Cup II, and she will attempt to land the team on top of the podium in Paris to take the only medal color that she has yet to wear around her neck.
Molly Bruggeman
Molly Bruggeman is a dynamic athlete who has raced between the eight, four and quad for the United States national team. Most recently, the 31-year-old Notre Dame graduate took the bronze medal at the 2024 World Rowing Cup II with the women’s eight and took gold at the same World Cup one year prior, but that time in the four. She has one world title to her name from the 2018 Rowing World Championships, where she crossed the finish line nearly two whole seconds ahead of Australia, who took the silver.
Margaret Hedeman
After competing on the US women’s senior team for the first time at the 2023 World Rowing Championships, Margaret Hedeman got a taste of what it’s like to stand on an international podium amongst the world’s fastest crews after the women’s eight took the silver. She graduated from Yale University in the spring of 2023 as a 2023 First-Team All-Ivy Selection, as well as a 2020, 2022 and 2023 CRCA Scholar Athlete. Hedeman has two major wins under her belt, with the gold medal in the eight at the 2022 World Rowing U23 Championships and in the four at the 2018 World Rowing Junior Championships.
Meghan Musnicki
US Rowing’s 2021 Female Athlete of the Year Meghan Musnicki is about to face her fourth Olympic Games and she has big goals for Paris, including landing back on top of the podium, just as she did at London 2012 and Rio 2016. The 41-year-old New York native leads the crew in terms of experience, with five world titles, on top of her two Olympic golds. Having failed to make the national team three times before her debut years ago, Musnicki is determined and resilient, “not allowing her age to be an excuse for not trying something new,” according to U.S. Rowing.
Claire Collins
Having taken the gold at the 2023 World Rowing Cup in the four with Bruggeman, Claire Collins is looking to land back on top of the podium, but this time, in the eight. Paris 2024 will be her first Olympic Games in the eight, as she represented the United States at Tokyo 2020 in the four and finished in seventh place. The 27-year-old graduated from Princeton as a three-time All-American and four-time All-Ivy recipient, having also been named 2019 NCAA Woman of the Year.
Olivia Coffey
Rowing at the Olympics is in Olivia Coffey’s blood. The Tokyo 2020 Olympian’s father, Calvin, won silver in the men’s pair at the Olympic Games Montreal 1976. As the second-generation Olympian prepares to face her second consecutive Games, she will attempt to add Olympic gold to her collection of three world titles. In 2018, she took World Championships gold in the eight. In 2015, she stood on top of the podium after winning in the quadruple sculls, and in 2013 it was a gold in the four.
Regina Salmons
As one of the four members of the Tokyo 2020 women’s eight also set to race in the same boat in Paris, Regina Salmons is bringing years of experience to the table. Since graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 2018, where she was a 2017 and 2018 Scholar Athlete and 2018 All-Ivy First-Team selected member, she has taken hardware from the 2024 World Rowing Cup II and 2022 World Championships - both in the eight. Now, she will work to land the United States on the Olympic podium and avenge their Tokyo 2020 fourth place finish.
Madeleine Wanamaker
Madeleine Wanamaker will step into the eight after racing alongside Collins in the four at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. Like many of the rowers set to race in this boat, Wanamaker has seen success on an array of rosters, having taken the gold medal at the 2018 World Championships in the four and a bronze medal at the 2022 World Championships also in the four. She began rowing just 11 years ago as a freshman at the University of Wisconsin, where both of her parents also rowed.
Charlotte Buck
Tokyo 2020 Olympian Charlotte Buck broke her streak of fourth place finishes in Belgrade when the women’s eight took second at the World Championships, but later this year, she will have her eyes on the gold. In both 2017 and 2018, Buck was team captain of Columbia University’s varsity rowing team and was the recipient of the MVP award both years, after she walked-on to the team during her freshman year at the school. She continued to be recognized by the University, winning Alumni of the Year in 2023.