Grace Joyce's Olympic rowing dreams began at an NCAA championship banquet in 2019.
Amanda Elmore, a former Michigan standout who stroked the U.S. women's eight to gold at the 2016 Olympics, read a journal entry at the banquet that revealed her own fears and doubts. It made the dream of becoming an Olympian feel attainable. In that moment, Joyce felt a spark. The possibility of representing the U.S. at the Olympics was no longer a distant dream but a tangible goal.
"I think knowing that Amanda was just like us and wasn't really sure of herself all the time, that was what made me realize that like, 'Oh, I can do this. I can try out for the team, make the team and represent the U.S,'" said Joyce, who rowed at Wisconsin from 2016-20.
For Lauren O'Connor, Grace's classmate at Wisconsin, believing in her Olympic potential came a bit later. It was "barely a thought" in her mind in college. Even when she started elite training in 2021, she said she had "no idea where I was going to line up against everyone," O'Connor said.
"I think it probably took until my first race in 2021 to truly be like, 'I have a shot at this, and this is a possibility.'"
The two former Badgers could not have predicted they would end up in the Olympics, let alone the same boat for the Paris Games. They rowed in the U.S. quadruple sculls boat, finishing their Olympic competition on Wednesday. In getting their boat to the Games, the pair helped the U.S. tie Romania for having the most boats qualified on the women's side.
"It's been really awesome getting to row with Grace," O'Connor said. "In college, we honestly really didn't get to be in the same boat very often. I think we rowed in the boat once or twice together before we got here. So it's been really awesome to have someone that you've known for a long time and know that they're backing you up and just have that little piece of home."
Though their rowing paths were different, their experiences at Wisconsin helped propel them to a significant shared accomplishment as first-time Olympians.
Joyce began rowing at New Trier High School in Illinois. The foundation she built there provided her an opportunity at Wisconsin. She helped the second varsity eight place 12th at the 2019 NCAA championships. She also competed in various national and international competitions, including the World Rowing Championships and the Pan American Games, where she won two medals.
O'Connor's journey to rowing was less conventional. She walked on to the team at Wisconsin and quickly proved her worth. Despite starting later than some of her teammates, O'Connor made significant strides, racing at the 2019 NCAA championships with the varsity eight. She also contributed to the team's third-place finish at the Big Ten championships that same year.
When they reunited on the national team, Joyce and O'Connor found that their time at Wisconsin had prepared them well. The transition to the national and Olympic teams required another level of dedication and skill, but their shared background gave them a unique bond. Joyce expressed immense pride in their accomplishments and the progress U.S. rowing has made.
"I think it's been an unreal experience. In college, we learned a specific skill set, and then we translated that to the national team. And then there's another step up from that to this Olympic team," Joyce said. "Getting to do that with Lauren has been amazing. We've been molded in a similar way, and I see my own strengths in her. I'm really proud of us and our boat."
While their rowing careers at Wisconsin were cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic, the skills and mental toughness they developed there stayed with them.
"It's a pretty intense program," Joyce said of Wisconsin. "We've been fighting for a long time to be in those top spots at the NCAA level. I think coming out of that program, we both developed a lot of grit. We learned perseverance for sure. I think that comes into play (in Paris) when we finish not where we wanted to.
"In our Wisconsin experience, we learned how to fall and fall and fall and get back up. So, this (Olympic result) is not what we wanted, but we know where to go from here."
