HADLEY, Mass. - The Paris 2024 Olympic Games kick off Friday, July 26 and run through Sunday, Aug. 11 and will be followed by the 2024 Paralympic Games from Aug. 28 through Sept. 8. During this time, the city of Paris will welcome more than 10,000 Olympians from around the world and among them will be seven athletes from the NESCAC.
Alex Grand’Pierre, Bowdoin – Haiti Swimming
Bowdoin senior Alex Grand’Pierre was selected to represent Haiti as a member of the country’s Olympic Swimming Team. Grand’Pierre has won multiple NESCAC titles, is an NCAA Division III All-American, and is a Haitian record holder.
Grand’Pierre qualified for the Paris Games in the 100-meter breaststroke after winning the event at the Central American and Caribbean Swimming Championships (C.C.C.A.N.) with a time of 1:02.39 in June.
Grand'Pierre is the current C.C.C.A.N. record holder in the 100 breaststroke and owns the Haitian records in the 50, 100, and 200 breaststroke distances and the 200 individual medley. He owns the Bowdoin school records in the 50, 100, and 200 breaststroke distances and is the NESCAC overall and championship meet record holder in the 50 breaststroke. This past winter, Grand'Pierre shined at the conference championships, winning the 50 breaststroke and 100 breaststroke, and earned All-American honors in the 100 breaststroke at the NCAA Division III Championships.
The son of Haitian immigrants, Grand'Pierre continues a family tradition of Olympic appearances, following in the footsteps of his older sisters Naomy (2016 Rio Games), and Emilie (2020 Tokyo Games), who also attended Bowdoin.
Maggie Shea, Connecticut College – United States Sailing
Shea will represent the United States for the second time in her career after earning a spot on the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team in sailing. A 2011 graduate of Connecticut College, Shea will appear alongside longtime skipper Stephanie Roble. The duo also competed in the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, finishing 11th in the Women's Skiff – 49erFX.
Shea is the second Connecticut College student-athlete to compete in multiple Olympic Games, joining fellow sailor Amanda Clark '05 (2008 Beijing, 2012 London). Anita DeFrantz '74, who won bronze in women's rowing in 1976, qualified for the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow but did not compete due to the U.S. boycott.
As a Camel, Shea was a team captain and All-American who helped the program finish second at the ICSA National Championships during her senior year in 2011. She was also the recipient of the Tammy Brown '84 Award as the institution's top female scholar-athlete.
Andre Matias, Hamilton - Angola Rowing
Matias graduated from Hamilton in 2012 and competed as a rower for the Continentals. Following graduation he went on to pursue a law degree at Georgetown Las School, graduating in 2019.
At the 2016 in Rdio de Janeiro Matias competed as a lightweight men's double sculler. Following the Rio Games, Matias took four years off from the sport and started his own business Altius Immigration Law. Matias was drawn back to rowing and began training with the Potomac Rowing Club.
Matias traveled to Tunisia in May of 2023 to compete in the regional Olympic trials and secured one of the last qualifying spots as a single scull rower for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Matias will be rowing for Angola as he was raised in Angola and Portugal before making a home in the United States.
Alex Flynn, Tufts – United States Rowing (Paralympics)
Flynn was selected for the US Paralympic Rowing Team and will compete in the PR3 Mixed Four with coxswain (along with fellow NESCAC alum Ben Washburne of Williams). The PR3 category is for people with a verifiable disability who can still use the functionality of their legs, trunk, and arms. Flynn has a left clubfoot, which prevents him from bending the foot upward and has resulted in muscle atrophy to the calf on his left leg.
A sophomore and engineering student at Tufts, Flynn and his teammates were selected for the Olympics after competing at a selection camp in January in Sarasota, Florida.
Jesse Grupper, Tufts – United States Climbing
Grupper will compete for Team USA in the sport of bouldering and climbing and was a youth national champion prior to attending Tufts. A 2019 graduate, he was a member of the Tufts climbing team while pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering.
Grupper qualified for the Olympics by winning gold at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile.
David Liebenberg, Tufts – United States Sailing
Liebenberg was a member of the Tufts Sailing squad that won the Intercollegiate Sailing Association Match Racing National Championship in 2012 under the direction of the legendary Tufts coach Ken Legler.
After graduating from Tufts in 2014, Liebenberg attempted to qualify for the Olympic Games in Rio (2016) and Tokyo (2020) but fell short, but was not deterred. Liebenberg and teammate Sarah Newberry Moore earned a berth to the Paris Games in the Nacra 17 class by finishing as the top American team at a pair of regattas in Europe last spring. The duo will compete in a 20-team field that will be cut to 10 teams on the final day of competition for the chase for a medal.
Kristi Kirshe, Williams – United States Women’s Rugby
A 2017 graduate of Williams, Kirshe was a two-time All-American in women’s soccer for the Ephs. Krishe will represent the United States as a member of the United States Women’s Rugby Team and will be making her second appearance at the Olympics after competing in Tokyo.
Krishe, a native of Franklin, Mass., owns the Ephs’ records for most goals scored in a season (18) and career (43). Kirshe picked up the sport of rugby after graduating from Williams, joining the Northeast Academy and Boston Rugby where she was selected to join the Women’s Falcons at the Hokkaido Governor’s Cup in 2018.
Kirshe made her national team debut at Sydney Sevens in 2019 and is considered one of the best on the World Rugby Sevens Series, earning regular Dream Team selections.
Kirshe’s teammate Sarah Levy also has a NESCAC connection as she spent the 2012-13 academic year as a student and member of the rugby team at Bowdoin before transferring to Northeastern.
Ben Washburne – Williams – United States Rowing (Paralympics)
Washburne was a four-year member of the Ephs’ rowing team and won three straight NESCAC titles (2021, 2022, 2023) during his career. Washburne a 2023 Williams graduate, will row in the Paralympics in Paris. He was born with a severe club foot on his left leg and spent a large portion of his childhood in a wheelchair and relearning how to walk after multiple surgeries.
In September of 2023, the United States PR3 Mixed Four with coxswain, the boat Washburne will row in at the Paralympics, won a silver medal at the World Rowing Championships. The championships were held on the same course the 2024 Paralympics will be held.
NESCAC Olympians & Paralympians Notes
- 107 NESCAC student-athletes have qualified for 46 of the 54 Olympics Games (65 Summer Olympians - including Paris 2024 Games - and 42 Winter Olympians)
- The NESCAC has been represented by an Olympic qualifier in 23 of the 33 Summer Olympic Games (including Paris 2024) and 15 consecutive Games since 1968
- The NESCAC has been represented by an Olympic qualifier in 22 of 24 Winter Olympics Games and 21 consecutive Games since 1936
- A student-athlete from the NESCAC has won 20 medals (5 Gold, 5 Silver, 10 Bronze) during the Summer Games
- A student-athlete from the NESCAC has won 5 medals (1 Gold, 3 Silver, 1 Bronze) during the Winter Games
- A student-athlete from the NESCAC has been a Flagbearer for their country 3 times
- 5 NESCAC student-athletes have qualified for 7 Summer/Winter Paralympic Games (including Paris 2024)
- Student-athletes from the NESCAC have won 19 medals (7 Gold, 10 Silver, 2 Bronze)
- Chris Waddell (Middlebury) is a member of the US Olympic & Paralympic Hall of Fame
Collegiate Athletes at the Olympics
The American collegiate athletics system plays a vital role in Team USA's success on the Olympic stage. This summer in Paris, 75% of U.S. Olympians will have competed collegiately as part of their journey to Team USA. In total, 169 schools from 45 different conferences will have one or more U.S. Olympians competing in Paris.
Twenty-one teams have at least 80% collegiate participation on their U.S. Olympic rosters, including 15 teams that are comprised 100% of collegiate athletes: women's basketball, men's and women's 3x3 basketball, beach volleyball, men's and women's indoor volleyball, diving, fencing, women's field hockey, women's rugby, modern pentathlon, men's and women's water polo, rowing and triathlon. College athlete representation on the 2024 U.S. Olympic Team spans all three NCAA Divisions (I, II and III), as well as junior colleges, NAIA schools and collegiate club programs.
