Making Team USA: Men’s Eight

Sponsored Content: Presented by Xfinity

The U.S. men’s eight has spent this past year gaining speed. The men’s eight came in sixth at the 2023 World Championships, failing to secure their first opportunity for an Olympic qualifying spot by less than a second. The boat reset and refocused on the Final Olympic Qualifier in May, winning the event by just under four seconds. They followed up their victory with a silver medal finish at World Cup II, just 0.2 seconds off of Great Britain, the reigning world champion. 

The crew, composed of Rielly Milne, Pieter Quinton, Evan Olson, Peter Chatain, Chris Carlson, Clark Dean, Christian Tabash, Nick Rusher, and Henry Hollingsworth, have their sights set on the podium after their World Championship finish qualified them for the Paris Olympics. The eight is predominately all first-time Olympians except for Clark Dean, who competed at the Tokyo Olympics. The last time the U.S. men’s eight stood on the podium was their bronze medal performance in 2008. The last gold for the men’s eight was in 2004. They showed their speed in their first race of the Olympics, crossing the finish line first and with the fastest time of the day. They will sit next to Great Britain in the final on Saturday, August 3. 

Rielly Milne is a University of Washington graduate with a long history of success in the coxswain seat. Milne, a first-time Olympian, was the coxswain for the U23 eight, who won gold at the 2018 Under 23 World Championships. The Washington native won gold in the junior varsity eight at the 2017 IRA Championships, the following year, he won silver in the varsity eight. He was named to the 2018 All-Pac-12 team, the second-team Academic All-Pac-12 team, and the IRA All-Academic team.

Pieter Quinton’s family has a rich history of successful athletes. Quinton’s mother rowed at Yale University, while his brother Philip plays in the MLS for Real Salt Lake. Quinton, an Oregon native, went to Harvard University, graduating in 2020. He would use his additional year of rowing at the University of Washington, where he won the varsity eight at the IRA Championships in 2021. Quinton began rowing at Rose City Rowing Club, raced on the U19 team in 2015, and won bronze in the men’s four with coxswain in 2016. He made his first senior national team in 2022, racing in the men’s eight at the world championships and placing fourth. 

Evan Olson, a first-time Olympian, graduated from the University of Washington in 2019 after being inspired to try rowing after reading the book The Boys in the Boat. During that time, he appeared on two U23 teams. He followed up his career at Washington by attending Oxford Brookes and winning the Ladies Challenge Plate at the Henley Royal Regatta in 2023. Originally from Washington, he began rowing at the Everett Rowing Association. Olson likes to be active and can be found rock climbing, mountaineering, or boxing. His long-term goal is to become a rowing coach. He previously coached the junior program at Pocock Rowing Center for two years.

Peter Chatain, who grew up in Winnetka, Illinois, joined the New Trier rowing team and raced with the national team as a U19 athlete in 2017. His first time wearing a Team USA uni was racing in the men’s eight at the CanAmMex regatta and winning gold in 2016. He raced with many of his boatmates in the silver medal winning U23 eight in 2021. The Stanford alumnus was named the PAC-12 Men's Rower of the Year in 2021 and a first-team All PAC-12 selection. Chatain has a master’s degree in computer science and currently works at a startup while balancing his training. Chatain’s father was an All-American sailor, a two-time national champion who placed third at the 1968 Olympic Trials. Chatain uses a quick five- to ten-minute meditation to help his mental health. 

Chris Carlson, a first-time Olympian, was a team member of Rielly Milne at the University of Washington and on the U23 national team. Carlson started rowing at Brewster Academy, a New Hampshire boarding school, where he was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame. He went on to row at Marist, where he held the record for fastest 2K for over a decade before transferring to Washington. Carlson made an impact immediately at Washington when he won the 2018 PAC-12 Conference Newcomer of the Year. He would also win gold that same year in the varsity eight at the IRA Championships. He was part of the U23 crew that won gold in 2018. 

Clark Dean, a Florida native, brings experience to the eight as one of the only two-time Olympians in the boat despite being only 24. Dean, a member of the men’s four that finished fifth at the Tokyo Olympics, has made several appearances on the national team. His first appearance was on the U19 team, placing third in the quadruple sculls in 2016. The following two years, he made history by winning gold in the men’s single sculls, making him the first U.S. man to win the event since 1967. He was the USRowing U19 Athlete of the Year in 2017 and 2018. Dean graduated from Harvard University in 2023 as an Empacher-IRCA All-America First Team, Empacher-IRCA Scholar-Athlete, and Academic All-Ivy League in 2023. Dean stroked the varsity eight to a bronze medal at the IRA Championships in 2019. 

Christian Tabash, a Harvard graduate, joins the ranks of first-time Olympians this year. Tabash began rowing in Alexandria, Virginia, after being cut from the basketball team. He would make his first national team as a high schooler by winning silver in the men’s eight at the 2017 U19 World Championships. He was named to the 2016 All-Met first team by the Washington Post. While at Harvard, Tabash received the Harvard Foundation Certificate of Recognition in 2019, which recognizes students for their outstanding contributions to improving intercultural and race relations at the college. In 2022, he won the Harvard Lowell House Judge Charles Wyzanski Award. He went to the University of California in 2023 to compete as a graduate student. He is proud to be Palestinian American, speaks fluent French and Haitian Créole, and is conversational in Spanish and Arabic. 

Nick Rusher graduated from Yale University with a degree in molecular, cellular, and developmental biology in 2023. His varsity eight won silver at the IRA Championships in 2021 and 2022. At Yale, he was named the 2023 IRCA Scholar Athlete and the 2022 and 2023 First Team All-Ivy. Rusher’s first national team appearance was at the 2021 World Rowing Under 23 Championships, where he won silver in the men’s eight. Originally from Wisconsin, his family has a long history at the Olympics. Rusher’s parents were both rowers who met on the national team. They both competed at the 1988 and 1992 Olympics. His sister, Alie Rusher, raced in the women’s quadruple sculls at the Tokyo Olympics. After rowing, he would like to become a cancer researcher. 

Henry Hollingsworth, from Dover, Massachusetts, rowed at Brown University after finishing his high school career at Brooks School. He received academic All-Ivy recognition and was an IRCA second-team All-American. His varsity eight won bronze at the 2022 IRA Championships. Hollingsworth's first national team appearance was in 2022, in the men’s four. His family is filled with rowers. His father, Val Hollingsworth, rowed for the University of Pennsylvania; his sister, Juliet Hollingsworth, rowed for Dartmouth; his uncle, Arthur Hollingsworth, rowed for Harvard; and his cousin, Andrew Reed, a Tokyo Olympian, rowed for Harvard. 

Cheer on the men’s eight at 5:10 a.m. ET on Saturday, August 3, as they compete in the final of the Olympic regatta.