.png&width=60&height=60&type=webp)
Women's Crew Alumna Gobbo '13 Wins Gold at #Rio2016 with U.S. Women's Eight
8/13/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Crew
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Brown University women's crew NCAA champion and three-time All-American Tessa Gobbo '13 has won an Olympic gold medal in women's rowing with the U.S. women's eight at the Rio Olympics, becoming Brown's first American gold medalist at the Summer Olympics since 1932.
Gobbo becomes Brown's first gold medalist at the Summer Games since Xeno Muller '94 won gold for Switzerland in men's rowing in 1996 and the Bears' first summer female gold medalist since Helen Johns '36 in 1932 in women's swimming. Gobbo is Brown's third female gold medalist at the Summer Olympics, joining Johns and Albina Osipowich '33 who won two gold medals in women's swimming in 1928.
- Providence Journal: "Brown crew coach John Murphy not surprised by Tessa Gobbo's gold medal"
- WMUR Manchester: "Tessa Gobbo on Winning Gold"
- Keene Sentinel: "Chesterfield product helps U.S. women capture rowing gold medal"
- New Hampshire Union-Leader "Chesterfield rower helps US women's rowing team take gold at Rio"
- NBC Olympics: "U.S. Women's eight golden on Day 8"
- NBC Olympics: "Women's eight proves it's best of all U.S. teams as its calm leader bids farewell"
- Team USA: "DominEIGHT: U.S. Women's Eight Rows to Landmark Third Consecutive Olympic Gold Medal"
- TIME: "America's Best Olympic Team Wins Gold Again"
- Washington Post: "The best team in Rio? The U.S. women's eight."
- Los Angeles Times: "U.S. women continue rowing dominance in the eights"
- New York Times: "A Simple Yell Helps a Dynasty Pull Together"
- ESPN: "U.S. women's third straight rowing win a new gold standard"
- USA Today: "U.S. women's eight remains step above with third Olympic gold"
- USRowing: "Gold and Silver on the Final Day of Olympic Rowing"
- Row2K: "Rio Saturday: Golden Lagoa"
The U.S. women's eight won the Rio gold medal race behind a time of 6:01.49 at Lagoa Stadium on Rodrigo de Freitas Lake on Saturday morning. The Americans defeated silver medalists Great Britain (6:03.98) and bronze medalists Romania (6:04.10) as well as New Zealand (6:05.48), Canada (6:06.04), and the Netherlands (6:08.37).
A native of Chesterfield, N.H., Gobbo and the U.S. women's eight won its 11th straight global title. Dating back to 2006, the U.S. W8+ has won gold at either the world championships or Olympics in every year. Gobbo and the boat won gold at the 2015 world championships to qualify for the Olympics as a boat, and Gobbo earned her individual spot in the boat through a selection camp.
Earlier in the week in Rio, Gobbo and the U.S. W8+ won their heat on Monday behind a time of 6:06.34, advancing directly to the finals. The crew topped the Netherlands (6:14.36), Romania (6:16.24), and Australia (6:22.68) in the heat.
Gobbo stands as the Bears' ninth gold medalist all-time and sixth female athlete. In addition to Gobbo, Johns, Osipowich, and Muller, Brown's gold medalists include Becky Kellar '97, Katie King '98, and Tara Mounsey '01 – all in women's ice hockey – as well as Norman Stephen Taber '13 (men's athletics) and John F. Spellman '24 (men's wrestling).
Brown's Olympic gold medal total increases to 12 gold medals all-time. The Bears now count 25 athletes who have medaled in the Olympics, gaining a total of 36 medals. Brown boasts nine female medalists, 22 total medals at the Summer Olympics, and 17 total women's medals. Alicia Sacramone '10 (women's gymnastics, silver) stands as Brown's only other female medalist at the Summer Olympics outside of Gobbo, Johns, and Osipowich.
Gobbo became Brown's sixth competitor in women's rowing at the Olympics all-time and the Bears' first Olympic medalist in women's rowing. Helen Betancourt '98 (2000 Sydney), Jennifer Corbet '87 (1988 Seoul), Portia Johnson-McGee '01 (2008 Beijing), Liane Malcos '00 (2004 Athens, 2008 Beijing), and Raj Shah '96 – a coxswain for the Bears' men's program – (2000 Sydney) stand as the other Bears to compete in women's rowing at the Olympics.
A 2013 Brown graduate with a concentration in sociology, Gobbo won an NCAA Championship with the Bears in 2011 and captained the crew in 2013. As a senior, she earned Academic All-Ivy honors and won Brown's Marjorie Brown Smith Award, given to the Bears' most outstanding female varsity athlete.
Gobbo earned CRCA All-America and CRCA First Team All-Region accolades in 2011, 2012, and 2013. Over the course of her Brown career, she won an Ivy title, an Eastern Sprints team title, and won the Crash-B Indoor Rowing Championships in the collegiate women's bracket in 2012 and 2013.
On the international level, Gobbo won gold in the eight at the 2016 and 2015 World Rowing Cup II regattas as well as the 2015 World Rowing Championships, took silver in the four at the 2014 World Rowing Championships, and gained gold in the four at the 2013 World Rowing Championships.
Brown Olympic Gold Medalists
1912 Stockholm: Norman Stephen Taber '13 (Men's Athletics)
1924 Paris: John F. Spellman '24 (Men's Wrestling)
1928 Amsterdam: Albina Osipowich '33 (Women's Swimming, Two Golds)
1932 Los Angeles: Helen Johns '36 (Women's Swimming)
1996 Atlanta: Xeno Muller '94, Switzerland (Men's Rowing)
1998 Nagano: Katie King '98, Tara Mounsey '01 (Women's Ice Hockey)
2002 Salt Lake City: Becky Kellar '97, Canada (Women's Ice Hockey)
2006 Torino: Becky Kellar '97, Canada (Women's Ice Hockey)
2010 Vancouver: Becky Kellar '97, Canada (Women's Ice Hockey)
2016 Rio: Tessa Gobbo '13 (Women's Rowing)
