Harvard’s Liam Corrigan ’19 Wins Gold in Rowing for Team USA, David Ambler ’20 Takes Bronze for GB

Updated August 1, 2024, at 1:37 p.m.

Liam R. Corrigan ’19 won a gold medal with Team USA in men’s coxless four rowing at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Thursday, as the United States narrowly edged out New Zealand to win its first gold medal in the event since 1960.

Great Britain, featuring former Harvard rower David F. Ambler ’20, won bronze in the same race. Corrigan and Ambler are Harvard’s second and third Olympians to medal after Lauren Scruggs ’25 won silver in the women’s individual foil tournament on Sunday.

Corrigan, who rowed for Harvard from 2015 to 2019, is the first Harvard alum to win a gold medal in any Summer Olympics event since Caryn P. Davies ’05 and Esther R. Lofgren ’08-’09 each won a gold medal in rowing at the 2012 London Olympics.

For Team USA, the gold medal represents redemption from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics when — for the first time in Olympic history — none of the U.S. boats brought home an Olympic medal.

At the Tokyo Games, the men’s coxless four boat — which did not include Corrigan but did feature another Harvard alum Clark A. Dean ’23 — finished fifth. Corrigan’s boat, the men’s eight boat, finished fourth.

In the heats prior to the final in Paris, the U.S. boat dominated the rest of the field from the start of the race and beat out defending gold medalist Australia to guarantee a spot in the final.

The U.S. boat also got out to an early lead in the final and looked in a good position to win gold until the New Zealand boat mounted a challenge in the last 300 meters of the race.

Corrigan and the rest of the U.S. boat responded to the challenge, pulling away from New Zealand and ultimately beating them by a little over eight-tenths of a second.

Ambler and Great Britain’s boat got off to a rocky start in the final, starting off in the back of the pack after being the top seed coming into the Paris Games. They managed to recover their position, and overcame the Italian team’s lead to secure the bronze.

Corrigan grew up playing basketball in his hometown Old Lyme Connecticut before his coach, who also coached rowing, recruited him for the rowing team. By college, Corrigan was rowing for Harvard.

Prior to the Paris Games, Corrigan spoke about his experience rowing in college and gave credit to the coaching he received at Harvard for helping his stroke and creating a “supportive environment” where it was “easy to train for four years.”

He also said that the team was “very focused” even though there was also a bit of nervousness as they trained in Italy in the weeks leading up to the Games.

The men’s eight final — which will feature Dean, Pieter Quinton ’20, and Christian B. Tabash ’22 for Team USA and Josh A. C. Hicks ’13 for Australia — is set to take place Aug. 3 at 5:10 a.m. ET.

The women’s eight finals will take place 20 minutes earlier, featuring another Harvard alum Olivia F. Coffey ’11.

—Staff writer Rahem D. Hamid contributed reporting.

—Staff writer Jo B. Lemann can be reached at jo.lemann@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @Jo_Lemann.