Of the 13 University students and alumni and two assistant coaches that competed at the 2016 Olympics, three returned home with medals.
Ashleigh Johnson ’17 goal kept her way to gold when Team USA beat Italy, 12-5, in the women’s water polo finals. This is the U.S.’ second consecutive gold medal in the event, and Johnson’s first Olympic medal. Johnson has been a key part of the team's success through the tournament – she made eight saves to help Team USA beat Hungary, 14-10, in the semifinals and six saves when the U.S. defeated Brazil, 13-3, in the quarterfinals. In the group matches, Johnson made nine saves when the team beat Hungary, 11-6, eight saves when it beat China, 12-4, and eleven saves when it beat Spain, 11-4.
Diana Matheson ’08 won her second consecutive Olympic bronze medal when Canada defeated Brazil, 2-1, in the women’s soccer bronze medal match. Until it lost 2-0 to Germany in the semifinals, Canada had an undefeated streak at the Games – during the preliminaries, it defeated Australia, 2-0, Zimbabwe, 3-1, and Germany, 2-1, before beating France, 1-0, in the quarterfinals.
American rower Gevvie Stone ’07 returned with a silver medal in the women’s single sculls event with a time of 7:22.92 on Day 8 of the Games. Australia’s Kim Brennan finished first with a time of 7:21.54. At the 2016 Games, Stone finished fifth overall in the heats, second in the quarterfinals, third in the semifinals, and second in the finals. Stone’s second place finish follows her seventh place finish in 2012.
American fencer Katharine Holmes ’17 was eliminated from the individual epee tournament in the round of 32 when she fell, 5-4, to Estonia’s Erika Kirpu after receiving a bye in the round of 64. Team USA, including Holmes, finished fifth in the women’s team epee event when it beat France, 32-28, in the 5-8thplace semifinals and Korea, 22-18, in the fifthplace finals match after losing 24-23 to Romania in the quarterfinals.
Team USA, including Katie Reinprecht ’13, Julia Reinprecht ’14, and Kathleen Sharkey ’13, fell 2-1 to Germany in the women’s field hockey quarterfinals. In the preliminaries of the event, it had defeated Argentina, 2-1, Australia, 2-1, Japan, 6-1, and India, 3-0, before falling 2-1 to Great Britain. Katie Reinprecht scored two goals, including the first goal for Team USA in the tournament. One goal was against Argentina and the other against Japan. Nate Franks ’07 also served on Team USA’s field hockey coaching staff at the Games.
American rowers Tyler Nase ’13 and Robin Prendes ’11 finished tenth in the men’s coxless four event with a final time of 6:36.93. They finished sixth in the heats with a time of 6:05.61 and eighth in the semifinals with a time of 6:26.82.
American athlete Donn Cabral ’12 finished his 3,000m steeplechase finals in eighth place, with a final time of 8:25.81. He finished Round 1 of the event in third place with a time of 8:21.96. At the 2012 Games, Cabral had finished eighth with a time of 8:25.91.
Lauren Wilkinson ’11 and the rest of her Canadian boat finished fifth in the women’s coxed eights finals with a time of 6:06.04. Her boat had finished fifth in the heats with a time of 6:12.44 and first in the repechage with a time of 6:28.07 before advancing to the finals. Wilkinson also rowed in Canada’s coxed eights in the 2012 Games, where she earned a silver medal.
TeamUSA’s men’s coxed eights boat, which included Glenn Ochal ’08, finished fourth in the finals with a time of 5:34.23. A fourth place finish with a time of 5:40.16 in the heats and first place finish in the repechage with a time of 5:51.13 earned Ochal’s boat a place in the finals of the event. At the 2012 Games, Ochal won a bronze medal when he rowed in the coxless fours boat.
Kate Bertko ’06 ended her journey at Rio with a tenth place finish for Team USA in the women’s lightweight double sculls event with a time of 7:29.96. She finished tenth in the heats with a time of 7:07.37, first in the repechage with a time of 7:58.90 and tenth in the semifinals with a time of 7:22.78 before rowing in the finals.
Assistant track coach Priscilla Frederick, representing Antigua and Barbuda, finished 28that the 2016 Games when she failed to clear 1.92m in the women’s high jump qualifications. Frederick’s final jump height was 1.89m.
Assistant track and field coach Robby Andrews was disqualified from the men’s 1500m final because he stepped off the track around the 1,450m mark in the 1,500m semifinal. The American athlete finished third in his heats and 27overall, with a time of 3:46.97 in Round 1 of the event.
A look around the Ivies
66 current or former Ivy League students and coaches competed for and coached 13 countries in the 2016 Games – Bermuda, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Ghana, Greece, Nigeria, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Uzbekistan, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. If the Ivy League were a country, it would have the 48thlargest Olympic delegation out of the 208 present at the 2016 Games.
With 13 competitors, the University had the highest number of Olympians amongst the eight Ivy universities. Harvard had 12, Dartmouth had nine, Yale had eight, Cornell had seven, Brown had six, and Columbia had three.
The Ivy League Olympians won six medals at the 2016 Olympics – the University had three, Columbia had two, and Brown had one.
Katie Meili from Columbia’s Class of 2013 won the 1,000thgold medal for the U.S. when she and her teammates finished first in the 4x100m medley relay. Meili also won a bronze medal in women’s 100m breaststroke.
Tessa Gobbo of Brown’s Class of 2013 rowed for the U.S. coxed eights boat, which won gold at the Games.
The total medal count for the other Ivies now stands at 100 medals for Yale, 67 for Harvard, 63 for Penn, 34 for Cornell, 25 for Dartmouth, 21 for Brown, and 12 for Columbia.
The University has 58 medals thus far – 18 gold, 19 silver, and 21 bronze – from the 109 students and alumni that have made a total of 146 appearances in the 120 years of the modern Olympic Games.
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‘Gaza Solidarity Encampment’ at Princeton
Daily Princetonian StaffPrinceton students began a sit-in McCosh Courtyard early Thursday morning, joining a wave of pro-Palestinian sit-ins across the country.
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Princeton students erected a tent encampment in McCosh Courtyard early Thursday morning, joining a wave of pro-Palestinian sit-ins across the country. Princeton Public Safety has issued its first warning to protesters, and at least two student arrests has been made.
In preemptive move, U. says encampment protestors will likely be arrested and barred from campus
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Students participating in an encampment on campus will be arrested and “immediately” barred from University grounds, Vice President for Campus Life W. Rochelle Calhoun wrote in an email to undergraduates on Wednesday morning. The move serves as an unprecedented pre-emptive response to the growing trend of pro-Palestinian encampments that have gripped peer institutions.
