IVIES IN TOKYO RECAP
- kzook0
- Aug 8, 2021
- 4 min read

Photo courtesy of Getty Spoty
TOKYO -- The Ivy League continued to build upon its storied success in the Olympic Games as 91 past, present and future Ivies competed in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.
2020 Tokyo Olympic Games
11,091 athletes, 205 countries, 339 events.
Ivies in Tokyo Bring Home 11 Medals
Harvard graduate Gabrielle Thomas led the charge with two medals. Representing the United States, Thomas first claimed bronze in the women’s 200m clocking a 21.87.
Three days later, she added a silver medal to her collection after running for Team USA in the 4x100m relay finals. Thomas is the first Harvard women’s track & field alumna to win an Olympic medal and is the first Harvard women to win two medals at an Olympic Games.
Ashleigh Johnson, former Princeton water polo goalkeeper, claimed her second consecutive gold medal and earned the final medal for the Ivies in Tokyo after making 11 saves against Spain to lead Team USA to a 14-5 win.
Dan Williamson, a current member of the Yale men’s heavyweight crew, won his first Olympic medal, claiming Gold in the men’s eight for Team New Zealand with a time of 5:24.64. Just a second behind Williamson was the Great Britain crew including Princeton’s Tom George and additional Yalies, Ollie-Wynne-Griffith and Charlie Elwes. The British secured bronze with a time of 5:25.74.
Cornell alumnae Taylor Knibbthe youngest U.S. female triathlete in history, won the first-ever silver medal in the Olympic debut of the triathlon mixed relay event. The mixed team relay is a mixed-gender event, consisting of two male and two female athletes on a team. Each athlete must complete a short-course race of 300-meter swim, 6.8km bike and 2km run.
Additionally for Cornell, Kyle Dake made Big Red wrestling history after he fought his way through the repechage bracket to a bronze medal by defeating Italy’s Frank Chamizo 5-0.
Janet Leung , the first Brown softball Olympian, assisted Team Canada in winning their first Olympic medal in softball after defeating Mexico 3-2 in the bronze medal game.
The Tokyo 2020 bronze medal is the best finish Canada has had in the Olympic games after placing fourth at Beijing 2008.
Former Tiger Fred Vystavel claimed a bronze medal for Denmark after he and his 2- partner Joachim Sutton crossed the line at 6:19.88. Vystavel earned Princeton’s 60th Olympic medal.
Well Represented
Ivies in Tokyo had 91 participants, the largest number of representatives in Ivy League history. The 91 representatives were also sixth-most of any conference in collegiate athletics, just behind the SEC, ACC, Big Ten, Big 12 and PAC-12.
Throughout the two weeks, the Ivy League continued its storied tradition of Olympic influence, adding 11 medals to the now 486 medals all-time.
The 2020 Ivy League footprint on Team USA was as follows:
34 Ivies competed on Team USA and was one of three conferences in the country to have all its schools represented on the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team (Ivy League, Big 12 and SEC).
10 Ivies were returning Olympians, including two medalists.
Harvard was the only non-power Five school in the top-15 list of contributors to Team USA with nine U.S. Olympians.
All eight institutions had representation on the U.S. Olympic Rowing Team, composing nearly 45% of Team USA's roster. The only other conference with this milestone is the SEC in athletics.
One-third of Team USA Fencing competed at Columbia, Harvard or Princeton.
Ivies in Tokyo represented 30 different countries and competed in 12 different sports.
Princeton led the way with 18 athletes, followed by Yale (17), Harvard (14), Columbia (9), Penn (9), Brown (6), Cornell (5) and Dartmouth (5). Moreover, the Yale fencing coach was appointed President of China Fencing for the Games and four Princeton coaches filled in coaching and team director roles Team USA. Three representatives from Columbia, Harvard and Princeton competed in the Paralympic Games.
Top 10 Finishes
Multiple of Ivies finished just outside of medal contention, but still cemented their status as some of the most elite athletes with top-10 finishes on the world stage.
Brown:
4th Place- Alex Miklasevich, Rowing, USA
5th Place- Anders Weiss, Rowing, USA
10th Place- Cicely Madden, Rowing, USA
Columbia:
4th Place- Charlotte Buck, Rowing, USA
4th Place- Jackie Dubrovich, Team Foil, USA
4th Place- Nicole Ross, Team Foil, USA
5th Place- Jake Hoyle, Team Épée, USA
8th Place- Jake Buczek, Rowing, Canada
Cornell:
5th Place- Michael Grady, Rowing, USA
7th Place- Rudy Winkler, Athletics, USA
10th Place- Tracey Eisser, Rowing, USA
Dartmouth:
5th Place- Molly Reckford, Rowing, USA
6th Place- Madison Hughes, Rugby, USA
6th Place- Ariana Ramsey, Rugby, USA
Harvard:
4th Place- Olivia Coffey, Rowing, USA
4th Place- Liam Corrigan, Rowing, USA
4th Place- Conor Harrity, Rowing, USA
4th Place- Alexander Richards, Rowing, USA
5th Place- Clark Dean, Rowing, USA
5th Place- Andrew Reed, Rowing, USA
6th Place- Cheta Emba, Rugby, USA
6th Place- Juri-Mikk Udam, Rowing, Estonia
Penn:
4th Place- Regina Salmons, Rowing, USA
8th Place- Sam Mattis, Athletics, USA
Princeton:
4th Place- Nick Mead, Rowing, USA
5th Place- Gevvie Stone, Rowing, USA
6th Place- Tim Masters, Rowing, Australia
6th Place- Eliza Stone, Team Sabre, USA
7th Place- Claire Collins, Rowing, USA
7th Place- Hannah Scott, Rowing, Great Britain
8th Place- Mohamed Hamza, Team Foil, Egypt
9th Place- Lizzie Bird, Athletics, Great Britain
9th Place- Julia Ratcliffe, Athletics, New Zealand
Yale:
4th Place- Sholto Carnegie, Rowing, Great Britain
5th Place- Christina Bourmpou, Rowing, Greece
5th Place- Kristina Wagner, Rowing, USA
6th Place- Simon Keenan, Rowing, Australia
8th Place- Jack Lopas, Rowing, New Zealand
9th Place, Andrin Gulich, Rowing, Switzerland
9th Place, Paul Jacquot, Rowing, Switzerland
Visit ivylg.co/IviesinTokyo and #OlympicIvy on social media to review coverage of the Ivies in Tokyo.






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