10 Cal Men’s Rowers to Compete at Paris Olympics
BERKELEY – The California men’s rowing team will have a large contingent at the 2024 Paris Olympic games as 10 current and former Golden Bears have qualified to represent their countries this summer. A quartet of Bears earned their spots by finishing in the top two of their races at this week’s World Rowing Final Olympic and Paralympic Qualification Regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland: current Cal men’s rowers Gennaro di Mauro and Tim Roth along with alums Martin Mackovic ’18 and Christian Tabash ’23. They join current Bear Angus Dawson along with alums Campbell Crouch ’23, Ollie Maclean ’23, Olav Molenaar ’22, Jack Robertson ’21 and Gus Rodriguez ’23, who were all previously named to their respective Olympic teams.
Di Mauro qualified for the Italian men’s eight after he helped power his crew to a second-place finish at this week’s Olympics qualification regatta. It was an extremely exciting finish as Italy was in the third position behind Canada heading into the final 500 meters of the final and was able to make a push to edge out the Canadians by just .01 seconds to take the final Olympics spot. This will mark Di Mauro’s second Olympics appearance as he rowed in the men’s single sculls at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which finished second in the B Final. Di Mauro was part of Cal’s V8+ that won back-to-back IRA National Championships the last two years.
Roth will compete for Switzerland in the men’s four after his team won its opening heat before finishing second in the final at this week’s qualification regatta. His boat beat out Germany, which finished in third place and featured Cal teammate Frederik Breuer. This will be Roth’s first-ever Olympics appearance. His previous international experience includes a fifth-place finish in the A Final in the men’s four at the 2024 World Rowing Cup I, a second-place finish in the B Final of the men’s four at the 2023 World Rowing Championships and a fifth-place finish in the A Final in the men’s four at the 2022 World Rowing Championships. He was also part of Cal’s V8+ the past two years.
Mackovic qualified for his second Olympic Games for Serbia after finishing in second place in the men’s double sculls at the qualification regatta. He also competed in the 2020 Tokyo games in the men’s pair and finished fifth in the A Final. Mackovic has been rowing extensively in the men’s pair on the world stage consistently since graduating from Cal and his credits include a gold medal at the 2021 World Rowing Cup I and bronze medals at the 2022 World Rowing Cup I and III.
Tabash is set to race in his first Olympics for the United States in the men’s eight after his team won its final at the qualification regatta. His crew won in wire-to-wire fashion, taking the lead in the first 500 meters and not looking back. Tabash was a grad transfer for the Bears during the 2023 season when he rowed in the third varsity for a majority of the season. His last international competition came at the 2021 U23 World Rowing Championships, where he earned a bronze medal in the men’s coxed four.
Dawson, also a member of Cal’s back-to-back IRA national champion V8+, and Robertson will race for Australia in the men’s eight and coxless four respectively after Rowing Australia named both of them to the Australian Olympic Team following the country’s 2024 National Senior, Para, U23 and Australia A Team Selection Trials, which were held Feb. 25 – Mar. 3 at the Sydney International Regatta Center. This will be Dawson’s second Olympics appearance after he finished sixth in the A Final in the men’s eight at the 2020 Games and Robertson’s first.
Crouch was named a spare for New Zealand’s men’s pair by Rowing New Zealand earlier this month. New Zealand qualified its men’s pair with a top-11 finish at the 2023 World Rowing Championships. At Cal, Crouch was part of the Bears’ V8+ that won consecutive IRA national championships the previous two years.
Maclean, who won consecutive Pac-12 Men’s Rowing Athlete of the Year Awards (2022 and 2023) and was also part of Cal’s back-to-back IRA championship V8+, will row for New Zealand in his first Olympics in the men’s four. He qualified with a third-place finish in the A Final of the 2023 World Rowing Championships. Maclean also earned a bronze medal in the men’s four at the 2023 World Rowing Cup III.
Molenaar will be part of the men’s eight for the Netherlands after he helped his country secure a berth via a second-place finish in the men’s eight at the 2023 World Rowing Championships. This marks his first Olympics appearance. He previously aided his country to a bronze medal in the men’s eight at the 2023 World Rowing Cup III and silver medal in the men’s four at the 2023 European Rowing Championships. During his time in Berkeley, Molenaar was part of Cal’s V8+ that finished second at the IRA national championships in 2021 and the 2V8+ that won the IRA national championship in 2019 and finished second in 2022.
Rodriguez was named a spare on the U.S. men’s eight team which qualified for the Olympics with a first-place finish at this week’s Olympics qualification regatta. This will be his first Olympics. He transferred to Cal as a graduate student in 2023 and rowed in the V8+ that went undefeated and won the IRA national championship.
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