After taking sixth place at the 2023 World Rowing Championships in the Men’s eight competition and failing to qualify for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, Portland local Pieter Quinton did some self reflection.
Yes, being sixth in the world in anything is still quite the accomplishment, but the Grant High School alumnus and his seven fellow rowers still felt like they left something out on the Serbia water in September.
Quinton, 26, and the crew had one more chance at a final qualifying race in May of 2024 out in Switzerland. The crew needed to finish in the top two to snag the final Olympic spots.
It was back to the drawing board for Quinton as had to go back through his process and cut out any distractions leading up to the races.
The U.S. team has only competed in every single Olympics offering Men’s eight since it began. No pressure.
“You have to look eternally and think, ‘What are the good things about everything that I bring to to my rowing, my preparation, my mindset, that allowed me to get here, and what do I need to change in order for me to reach the heights that I want?’” Quinton said. “I think that was a very valuable moment for myself, and I think for a lot of us in that boat. We all went through that where I had to kind of strip away some of the superfluous stuff and rethink how I approach certain things in my training, in my mindset for this year so that we could come back better and stronger.”
In Switzerland, the regrouping efforts paid off as the U.S. crew finished first to secure a spot in the Olympics in Paris.
For Quinton, there was certainly joy in making the Olympics for the first time in his rowing career. But at the same time a sense of relief was also felt as the journey to get here presented plenty of moments along the way of celebration.
Starting from the Willamette
That journey began in the waters of the Willamette River back when Quinton was heading into eighth grade.
Quinton’s mother Titia used to row for Yale and signed him up that summer for the Rose City Rowing Club. He was already an athlete though playing soccer and baseball as well as running track.
But after a few times on the water, Quinton was hooked pretty quickly as he dropped those three other sports in high school to focus on his rowing.
The team camaraderie of rowing helped draw Quinton into the sports, as well as the measurable growth seen from the amount of work put in and the fact that rowing takes place outdoors.
“I would say there's certainly a beauty to it being outside, being on the Willamette, rowing through downtown,” Quinton said. “Row south down towards Sellwood and Lake Oswego. We did some cool trips to race up in Seattle, we raced in Canada, California. Just enjoy being out on the water, being in nature, and the serenity of rowing.”
There wasn’t a whole lot of serenity in his college recruitment though, something Quinton described as a “stressful period.”
Between the process, Quinton was rowing for the junior national team in 2015 and 2016, cementing himself as one of the best young rowers in the country.
After a long process, Quinton got to his No. 1 option though and that was Harvard where he climbed the ranks of the multiple varsity teams to eventually sit in the top boat for his junior and senior season.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic cut his senior year short, and the Ivy League doesn’t allow fifth-year seniors to compete despite nearly all other NCAA schools allowing it.
That wasn’t the end for Quinton though who transferred a little closer to home to Washington where he connected with some former high school teammates and put on a show.
At the 2021 Intercollegiate Rowing Association national championships (because the NCAA doesn’t sponsor any men’s rowing championships), Quinton and his eight-man crew took home a national championship.
Going for gold
Once the college days were up, Quinton moved to Oakland, California where, at the time, the U.S. training center was based.
According to Quinton, if a rower is serious about going for the Olympic team, being based near the training center was essential in improving and making the right connections.
The strategy and continued work paid off as Quinton was selected for the eight-man crew in 2022.
From there, it’s been all about staying on the boat each year and proving each outing that he’s one of the eight who should be there. And Quinton succeeded by staying on the crew for all three years since his initial selection.
“I think it’s just kind of one step at a time on the ladder,” Quinton said. “Back in high school, making the junior team. Then recruited to a top level school and rowing program, then work your way up through the program … I was able to get selected (in 2022 for the U.S. team) and make it into the eight. And then the two subsequent years after that it’s kind of been both improving myself and also maintaining my position.”
With more than half of his life dedicated to the sport and this ultimate goal of making the Olympics, once Quinton and the crew crossed that line first in Switzerland, the emotions were a bit all over the place.
“It's pretty surreal. It's one of those things where you do have that moment right when you've actually qualified, I would say it's a combined sense of relief and also this utter joy of having achieved this goal you've worked towards for so long,” Quinton said. “But it is one of those things where there is that moment, but there are also so many other moments that you have to achieve before you get to that moment. Each step you feel you’re just getting closer and closer and closer.
“It's this gradual realization of what was once a pipe dream is now becoming more and more possible until you finally have that actual moment when you've when you've qualified.”
Quinton had the chance to celebrate with his mom, his dad Patrick and his sister Annelies in Switzerland. Annelies is going to be a senior at Harvard where she’s a cross country and track athlete. Quinton also has a brother Philip who is a defender in MLS for Real Salt Lake. The parents still live in Portland.
The men’s eight rowing events begin with initial heats at 2:40 a.m. PT on July 29 in Paris. The repechages (essentially a second chance at making the finals) are at 1:20 a.m. Aug. 1 and the final is set for 2:10 a.m. Aug. 3.
Philip will still be in the middle of the MLS schedule, but the rest of the family should be in Paris to help cheer Quinton on as the U.S. squad goes for gold.
A gold medal in the men’s eight would be the first for the U.S. since 2004 in Greece, and any medal would be the first for the country since a bronze in 2008 in Beijing.
Quinton believes the crew has what it takes to go for gold. Looking at the path Quinton’s rowed to get here, gold only seems like the natural next step on the ladder of his career.
From the Willamette to the winner’s podium would be nice, but at the end of the day, reaching the pinnacle of the sport is something that won’t be lost on the Portland local.
“I think we have a super strong squad, we're certainly going there with the goal to win gold,” Quinton said. “We've got some work still to do, but that's our goal. I think beyond that, we definitely want to be able to put out our best performance, and so we're confident that if we do that we can be in contention to win gold. But regardless, I think going there and feeling like we've executed to our best will be pretty satisfying.”
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