Submitted by Will Galpin on Fri, 16/08/2024 - 14:34
The 2024 Paris Olympic Games proved to be an extraordinary showcase of talent, with eleven Cambridge University alumni proudly representing their nations on the world stage.
We extend our heartfelt congratulations once again to all the athletes, coaches, and their families for their outstanding performances, marked by truly remarkable achievements.
The Olympians:
Imogen Grant (Trinity)
GOLD | Lightweight Women’s Double Scull | Rowing
Imogen and partner Emily Craig secured the last ever gold medal in this discipline at the Olympics! After missing out on gold in Tokyo by 0.5 seconds (and bronze by 0.01 seconds), the Olympic title was the only one missing, after their two World and European titles. Reflecting on the race, Imogen said “this was the only result left for us to achieve and we did it. I’m feeling all the emotions; joy, disbelief, relief, tiredness, joy again, so much happiness and that feeling of a job well done.” (British Rowing)
Pictured: Imogen Grant , British Rowing
Amy Hunt (Corpus Christi)
SILVER | Women’s 4x100 Relay | Athletics
Amy was part of the women's 4x100m quartet who recorded their best result since 1965 with a silver medal in Paris! Following injury, surgery, and rehabilitation in recent years, this tops off an already successful year for Hunt, who had already taken home her first senior gold as part of the Great Britain women's 4x100m team at the 2024 European Championships. Speaking after the race, Amy said “there was so much chaos going on. But we were so well drilled as a team and that’s our biggest strength. We’re skilled, we’re smart ladies and we made sure we got in it and I’m so proud of these ladies.” (BBC)
Ollie Wynne-Griffith & Tom George (Peterhouse)
SILVER | Men’s Pair | Rowing
The pair impressively led the race throughout until Croatia’s two time Olympic Champions overhauled them with seconds to go. After racing in the eight in Tokyo, the former CUBC members switched to the pair in search of gold. Settling for silver this time, Ollie said they “wouldn’t change a bit from the last three years. I’m sure in the next few weeks we’ll look back with an immense amount of pride in what we’ve done.”
Freddie Davidson (Emmanuel)
BRONZE | Men’s Four | Rowing
Freddie Davidson along with Team GB crew mates; Oli Wilkes, David Ambler, and Matt Aldridge raced to a bronze medal in the Men’s Four! Sitting in sixth place through 500m, they moved up to an eventual finish behind two very strong USA and New Zealand crews.
Henry Fieldman (Homerton)
BRONZE | Women’s Eight | Rowing
Henry coxed Team GB Women’s Eight to an emphatic bronze medal, which is only their second ever medal in the event. Despite other cres finishing strong, Team GB held third place behind the Romanian and Canadian crews.
Olivia Coffey (Homerton)
5th | Women’s Eight | Rowing
In the same event, Team USA finished just two seconds of a podium place and 0.24 seconds off their fastest Olympic time. Reflecting on her team’s fifth-place finish, Coffey admitted it wasn’t the result she had hoped for but emphasised the effort the team had put into the games.
Hannah Snellgrove (Gonville & Caius)
12th | Women’s Dinghy Race | Sailing
Despite winning two races at the games, Hannah narrowly missed out on the chance to race in an Olympic final, eventually finishing 12th. Hannah said that “It felt like a bucket list ticking-off moment when you win a race at the Olympics. And then I did it again, which is really cool.”
Pictured: Hannah Snellgrove , World Sailing
Anna Kiesenhofer (Emmanuel)
Women’s Road Race & Women’s Individual Time Trial | Cycling
While it was always going to be a tough ask to repeat her successes at Tokyo, Anna can walk away from another successful Olympic campaign. . The 2020 Road Race Olympic Champion sustained an injury to her elbow in the Time Trial during difficult weather conditions, which caused her to fall. Impressively, Anna still managed to complete both the Time Trial and the Road Race, finishing the latter in a time of 4:07:16.
Paige Badenhorst (Magdalene)
14th | Women’s Single Scull | Rowing
Representing South Africa, Paige won her C/D semi-final in the Single Scull, before a second place finish in the C final which earnt her 14th overall.
Dara Hossein Alizadeh (Hughes Hall)
28th | Men’s Single Scull | Rowing
In his second Olympics representing Bermuda, Dara (Hughes Hall) took the E/F Semi-Final win before ultimately finishing 4th in the E Final.
As we celebrate these remarkable achievements, we also look forward with excitement to next time—see you in LA!
Pictured: Anna Kiesenhofer , Cycling Austria
Pictured: Women's 4x100m , British Athletics