Former Everett Rowing Association member Evan Olson representing Team USA in Paris

Evan Olson’s path toward becoming an Olympian didn’t start when he was 5 years old. It didn’t even begin when he was 10.

The first time Olson picked up an oar and rowed was halfway through his junior year of high school.

It was because he was inspired by a book his parents gave him titled, “The Boys in the Boat,” written by Daniel James Brown. The story is about how a group of nine men from working-class families joined the University of Washington’s eight-oar crew team, won gold and not only defeated the top-tier teams from the East Coast and Great Britain but also the German team rowing for Adolf Hitler at the Berlin 1936 Olympic Games.

Olson, 27, said he hadn’t watched rowing at the Olympics prior to reading the book nor did he have friends who rowed. After reading the book, he was amazed rowing was an actual sport, so he searched for local opportunities.

Living in Bothell, Olson was a drive away from three local clubs: Everett Rowing Association, Pocock Rowing Center and Sammamish Rowing Association.

Olson’s father was a firefighter in Seattle, and the fire station received a copy of the Seattle Times newspaper each day. In the Aug. 26, 2013 print edition, there was a full-page advertisement in the sports section from the University of Washington men’s and women’s rowing teams searching for talent. Titled “Do You Measure Up,” the advertisement included images of male and female bodies, desired height ranges and a tryout date.

Olson’s father brought the advertisement home to Olson who then hung it on his wall and looked at it every morning saying, “‘I’m going to go do that.’”

After getting the urge to row after reading the book and viewing the advertisement, Olson began his rowing career.

Also involved in cross country and track at Bothell High School, Olson began rowing for the Everett Rowing Association in winter 2014. Because many high schools don’t have an associated rowing team, many rowers seek clubs outside of school.

Olson rowed for Everett for about half a year before switching to Pocock Rowing Center to finish his high-school career. He then was recruited to the University of Washington where he rowed for the men’s team from 2016-19.

The UW men’s and women’s rowing squads are respected as some of the top programs in the nation.

According to a press release from the UW Athletics Department, “No other college rowing program will have more alumni competing at the 2024 Olympic Games than Washington (and) no other college rowing program will have more alumni competing for the U.S. at the 2024 Olympic Games than Washington.

“Washington Rowing has had an alumnus in each of the last 14 Olympic Games and in 18 of the last 21 Olympiads, (and) UW athletes have earned at least one medal in each of the last five Olympics and in six of the last seven,” the press release states. “In total, UW alumni – men and women combined, counted individually – have earned 46 Olympic medals in rowing.”

After graduating UW, Olson took about a two-year break to row recreationally and coach at Pocock before the desire to row competitively again got to him. In fall 2022, he moved to England where he rowed for Oxford Brookes University while obtaining his master’s degree. Olson came back to the U.S. last summer where the quest for making the U.S. Olympic team began.

“(Olson) was better than me. He took a lot of time and effort to help me out, which made a difference in my progression at UW,” said Chase Barrows, an Archbishop Murphy High School graduate and college teammate of Olson. “He’s determined. He does not quit. … He’s committed, and he has his way of doing things. … He cares, and he’s driven.”

Barrows rowed for Everett for five years and went undefeated in the coxed four during his time. He didn’t meet Olson until he attended UW as Olson was a junior in 2018 when Barrows was a freshman.

“In high school, I was very good. I was the best guy by far, and then the first few years at UW, I kind of struggled because I wasn’t the best,” Barrows said. “That’s why I went to UW to be surrounded by the best. But I took it really hard not doing well, not making boats. And then I kind of realized I only have myself to compare myself to. I wanted to find out how good I could get.

“(Making the Olympic team) is a hard question to answer,” he said. “I definitely found my limit for how good I could get at that time. But what’s amazing about the sport of rowing is a lot of guys who go to the Olympics aren’t the best rowers in college. Evan finished his career off in the 3V, which is commendable but not the top boat. But in rowing when you just keep going and you keep training and keep your eyes on that goal, you get better and better. … It’s cool to see the guys in (the U.S. Olympic team) boat go because I’ve rowed with six of them over the years.”

Olson’s international rowing accomplishments in college include winning a bronze medal with the U.S. men’s coxed four at the 2017 World Rowing Under-23 Championships in Bulgaria and being invited to the 2019 U.S. Rowing Under-23 National Team Selection Camp. Barrows also rowed overseas in Lithuania as the No. 2 seat for the U.S. men’s eight that won silver at the 2017 World Rowing Junior Championships.

The process for making the Olympic team is complex, but Olson persevered, placing fifth in the men’s pair at the 2023 World Rowing Championships and first in the men’s eight at the 2024 World Rowing Final Olympic Qualification Regatta, also known as the Regatta of Death since only the first two teams to place make the Olympics.

“Rowing is just one of those things where like no matter what, it’s just hard work all the time. And that’s really what makes someone good at the sport. Like yeah, you want to be tall and talent comes to play a little bit, but like the thing that makes an exceptional rower is the amount of hard work they put in over time. Like miles make champions,” Olson said. “In order to be good at rowing, you really have to train your physicality, do your weight training. You spend your time on the water, learning the technical skills and then the rest of it is just building your aerobic base. It’s just training, having your heart rate elevated, and that’s just hard work all the time. And that really sucks, but it’s what you got to do in order to be good at the sport.

“You’re out there in the morning, and it’s peaceful, and it’s quiet. Sometimes you catch the sunrise, and sometimes it’s really beautiful. And sometimes you’re out there, and it’s storming, and it’s raining, it’s cold and it’s dark. And you’re like, ‘This sucks.’ But you go out there, and you do it, and you love it. You convinced yourself that you love it. You don’t really know why you’re doing it, but you can’t really imagine a world where you’re not rowing,” he said. “And I think that if you ask an Olympian like me or you ask your average high school rower or you ask a (parent) who started rowing because their kid rows like, ‘Why do you row?’ Everyone’s going to have a different answer, but they all love the sport. Rowing is really special in that it kind of is this really close and tight-knit community, and it has something for everyone.”

Olson and his men’s eight teammates will compete in their first heat on July 29 at 2:40 a.m. PDT. The men’s eight repechage is Aug. 1 at 1:20 a.m. PDT, and the men’s eight final is on Aug. 3 at 2:10 a.m. PDT.

“One thing that I find that I really appreciate, especially about junior rowers is just the sense of community and belonging that they get from rowing,” Olson said. “When I started rowing at Everett, it could have gone really badly. Maybe it could have sucked, maybe I could have been like, ‘You know, maybe I do have the build to go be an Olympian, but I don’t like this.’ And I think that Everett, for me, was able to instill a passion and a love for rowing. And I really first (experienced that) back in 2014, and it still keeps me going today.”