At least one Penn athlete has participated in every Summer Olympics since the 1900 Paris games.
And, thanks to two rowers, that streak will continue through to next month's Games.
Tom Paradiso (Col '02) and Susan Francia (Col '04) qualified for the men's lightweight four and the women's eight, respectively. They will each make their Olympic debuts representing the United States in Beijing Aug. 8-24.
The two took vastly different paths to reach the pinnacle of the sport. Paradiso has been on the men's lightweight national team for the past eight years and narrowly missed out on qualifying for the 2004 Olympics. Francia, on the other hand, began rowing for the first time her sophomore year at Penn.
"Sometimes, I'm like, 'Wow I'm going to the Olympics and I picked up an oar seven years ago,'" Francia said.
And her boat - containing two other Ivy League alumnae - stands a good chance at success in China. After winning the silver medal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, the US women's eight, with Francia on the boat, has won the past two world championships.
"This boat that we have is so incredibly strong and we have such a willingness to win," she said. "In the back of our minds, we are focused, we are there. We want gold. That's my number one thing right now. I'm there to get the gold."
To do so, they will have to best the Romanians, who have medalled in the event at every Olympics since 1980, including golds at the past three Games. A win would bring the gold in the event back to the US for the first time since 1984.
It may be somewhat more difficult for Paradiso's boat. The lightweight four has only been an Olympic event for the last three Games. The American team won the bronze in 1996, then finished sixth and ninth in Sidney and Athens, respectively. The team's performance at the Worlds has been equally unsatisfying, finishing no better than ninth for the past three years.
Still, Paradiso knows how competitive the event is and is confident that his boat has the same chances as any other nation's.
"I've followed the four since about 2001. It's incredibly tight racing," he said. "With everyone being the same size, everyone using the same equipment, the racing is almost like who's having a good day and who's having a bad day."
"There can be 13 boats there and the spread over all the boats can definitely be less than five seconds, which means there's going to be really, really close racing."
Still, Paradiso is setting his goals small at first. The team has made it out of preliminary heats in past Games but has struggled in the semifinals. Thus, his goal is to advance through the first two races to one of the final six boats. In the finals, Paradiso notes, "anything could happen."
National powerhouses in the lightweight four include 2004 gold medal winner Denmark and France.
Both rowers put in a great deal of work and practice to make the squad, and continue to train on a daily basis to improve their chances of medalling.
Francia notes that her training schedule lasts "Monday to Sunday, seven days a week," and Paradiso points out his boat's unique training.
This year, the Worlds fall three weeks prior to the Olympics for all non-Olympic events, including the lightweight men's eight. The four rowers on Paradiso's boat are joined by the four who missed the final cut. They split their training between the eight and the four, which he says may turn out to benefit the Olympic boat.
"I don't know that anyone else is doing it or anyone else ever has done it," he said. "But I think it's actually working really well for us in terms of keeping the eight together."
The rowing events will begin Aug. 9 and end Aug. 17 at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park, a new facility, built especially for the Games, located about 45 kilometers outside downtown Beijing.
Penn's presence will also be felt behind the scenes for the U.S. rowing team. Legendary coach Ted Nash, who coached the Quakers from 1970 to 1983, will be making his 11th appearance for the U.S. Olympic team, coaching a pair of Harvard graduate twin brothers in the men's pair.
He began as a rower, winning the gold at the 1960 Rome Olympics and the bronze at the 1964 Tokyo games. Nash has been an assistant or head coach every time since.
To put into perspective how long Nash has been a staple of the American team, the rowing powerhouse of the 1960 Olympics was Germany -- before the nation competed as East and West Germany.
And current Penn men's lightweight head coach Mike Irwin was selected to U.S. Rowing's support staff. He will act as boatman in Beijing.
These four carry on the long tradition of Red and Blue rowing alums to qualify for the Olympics, bringing the total up to 46. And those rowers have earned nine medals.
Now that they've kept Penn's Summer Olympics streak alive, all that remains to be seen is whether Francia and Paradiso can build on that medal total and make it ten or even 11 medals held by former Penn rowers.
