Marietta College alum Bolton helps U.S. qualify for 2008 Olympics
Three former Pioneers compete well at World Championships

Sept. 7, 2007
MUNICH, Germany — Marietta College graduate Andrew Bolton (Old Lyme, Conn.) is one step closer to experiencing every amateur athlete's dream of competing on the world's biggest stage—the Olympic Games. He earned that opportunity based on his performance at the 2007 World Rowing Championships, which took place on the Munich Olympic Regatta Course Aug. 26-Sept. 2.

During the World Championships, the United States of America qualified 11 boats for the 2008 Olympic Games, to be hosted by Beijing, China. It was the second most of any country.

Over 65,000 fans descended upon Munich for the eight-day regatta, which featured 1,285 athletes racing in 474 crews from 68 nations.

Bolton sat bow for the U.S. squad's lightweight men's four (LM4-), which also featured Tom Paradiso at stroke, Patrick Todd in the two seat and Colin Farrell in the three seat. The shell took fifth in the B final for an 11th-place finish overall.

This year, the B finals for Olympic-class boats carried more significance as the regatta served as the primary country qualifier for the 2008 Olympic Games. For boats that did not qualify in Munich, a final qualification opportunity will be held July 15-18, 2008, in Lucerne, Switzerland.

The LM4- reached the B finals after a second place finish in its opening heat, a third place finish in the quarterfinals and a sixth place finish in the semifinals.

With the top five crews of the six-boat field earning their countries berths in the Olympics, competition was fierce down the stretch. Australia (6:04.47) led the race from start to finish. Poland (6:05.66) finished second, Egypt (6:05.81) was third and The Netherlands (6:07.09) crossed the line in fourth. The United States (6:07.20) secured the final spot with a fifth place finish, while Ireland (6:09.30) was left without a bid after taking sixth.

Bolton was not the only Marietta College alum at the World Championships. Evan Tsourtsoulas '07 (Kastoria, Greece) represented Greece in the lightweight pair (LM2-), while Luke Agnini '02 coached the men's pair with coxswain (M2+) for the United States.

Tsourtsoulas, who won a gold medal in the BLM4- at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships earlier this summer, teamed up with Apostolos Kourkoumpas, another member of that boat, during the World Championships. Greece opened the competition with a third place finish in its opening heat and then took second in the repechage to advance to the Grand Final. In the final, the shell crossed the 1,500m mark in fifth place but ran out of steam and finished sixth with a time of 6:48.39. Italy (6:38.00) won the gold, Germany (6:39.43) took the silver and Australia (6:42.05) brought home the bronze.

Agnini's boat, which featured Patrick Godfrey, Stephen Kasprzak and David Florio, placed fourth in its heat and third in the repechage to earn a spot in the B finals. The shell used a push early in the race to take the lead and then held on for the four-second victory. The U.S. finished in 7:12.58 and earned seventh place overall. The Czech Republic (7:16.76) was second and Ukraine (7:18.17) took third.