Olympic Hertfordians of History: The Rowers

25 July 2024

During the Olympics, we will be spotlighting some of the Hertfordians who have competed in previous Games, and with rowing events starting the Paris Olympics off with a splash there is no better place to start than with our own Hertford Rowers!

In 2016 Zoe Lee (Geography, 2004) won Silver in the women’s eight, the same year she completed her PhD in Desert Science. This was a momentous victory, being the first medal won by the GB women’s eight in Olympic history. After an exciting final which saw the boat surge past early leaders Canada after the halfway line, they finished narrowly behind the Americans, who were the initial favourites to win. The crew, consisting of Katie Greves, Melanie Wilson, Frances Houghton, Polly Swann, Jessica Eddie, Olivia Carnegie-Brown, and Karen Bennett alongside Zoe, were described by their cox Zoe de Toledo as ‘strong, sassy, inspirational’, all of which helped them bring home that historic silver medal.

Zoe started rowing while an undergraduate at Hertford, having previously played University netball. In a piece for the Hertford website, she describes watching her friends rowing in Summer Eights and knowing she needed to get involved. In the same piece, she explains that on visiting Hertford on an Open Day she ‘‘knew this was the college I wanted to apply to. Without studying at Hertford, I wouldn’t have started rowing, and without that, I wouldn’t have become an Olympic silver medallist.”

A few years earlier alumnus Paul Mattick (Pharmacology, 1999) rowed in the lightweight four in the Beijing Olympics, coming 5th overall.  The boat came in less than two seconds behind the bronze medallists Canada. During his PhD at Hertford Paul was an active member of the MCR, and, of course, the Hertford rowing team.

Other Hertfordians who have rowed in the Games are Colin Mark Davis (Maths, 1957), who competed in the men’s eight in the 1960 Olympics in Rome; and Henrik Nilsson (Social Studies, 1997) who rowed for the Swedish quadruple sculls team in the 1996 Games in Atlanta, Georgia.

If you have any information that we’ve not included, please email us at development.office@hertford.ox.ac.uk