Cal at the Olympics: Five Golden Bear Rowers Pick Up Medals

Three former Cal athletes help USA reach quarterfinals in men's water polo

Sydney Payne (center) / Sarah Phipps-USA TODAY Sports

Five former Cal rowers – Caileigh Filmer, Sydney Payne, Rowan McKellar, Olav Molenaar and Christian Tabash -- captured Olympic medals on Saturday in the men’s eight and women’s eight, which are the most prestigious rowing events at the Olympics.

Rowing

Caileigh Filmer and Sydney Payne, Canada: Filmer and Payne were part of the Canada boat that won a silver medal in the women’s eight. The Canadians finished the Final A in a time of 5:58.84, which was 5.54 seconds behind the winner, Romania, and less than a second faster than third-place Great Britain. The 26-year-old Payne, who rowed for Cal from 2016 to 2019, won a gold medal as part of Canada’s women’s eight boat in the 2020 Olympics, so she was unable to match that finish this time. This is the third Olympics for Filmer, 27, who rowed for Cal from 2017 to 2019 and won a bronze medal in women’s pairs in the 2020 Olympics.

Rowan McKellar, Great Britain: McKellar was part of the British boat that won a bronze medal in the women’s eight.  Great Britain’s time of 5:59.51 in the Final A was a little more than five seconds behind winner Romania, but just 0.67 of a second behind the silver-medal-winning Canada boat.  Great Britain was less than a second behind Canada after 1500 meters, but could not make a dent in the deficit in the final 50 meters. This was the second Olympics for McKellar, who was born in Scotland and graduated from Cal in 2017. She placed fourth in the women’s four in the 2020 Olympics. 

Olav Molenaar, The Netherlands: Molenaar captured a silver medal as part of the Netherlands boat that finished second in the men’s eight Final A. The Dutch time of 5:23.92 was just 1.04 seconds behind Great Britain’s gold-medal-winning boat. Netherlands was 1.02 seconds behind the British boat after 1500 meters and the British maintained that margin to the finish. Molenaar rowed at Cal from 2019 to 2022 and was making his first appearance at the Olympics.

Christian Tabash, USA: Tabash rowed for the United States’ men’s eight boat that won a bronze medal by finishing third in the Final A behind Great Britain and Netherlands.  The U.S. finished in a time of 5:25.28, which was 1.36 seconds behind second-place Netherlands and more than four seconds ahead of fourth-place Germany. The U.S. was just 0.62 seconds behind Netherlands after 1500 meters, but lost a little ground over the final 50. Tabash, 25, graduated from Harvard but came to Cal as a graduate transfer and rowed on the Cal varsity eight that won the IRA national title in 2023.

Fredrick Breuer, Germany: Breuer and his men’s eight boat missed out on a medal by more than four seconds. The Germans finished fourth in the men’s eight Final A, 4.52 seconds behind the third-place Americans. This was the first Olympics for Breuer, a member of the Cal varsity eight crew that won national championships in 2022 and 2023.

Angus Dawson, Australia: Dawson and his Aussie crew made the Final A of the men’s eight, but they finished sixth in the six-team final. Australia had a time of 5:31.79, which was more than six seconds out of medal consideration.  Dawson also finished sixth in the 2020 Olympics as a member of the Australia men’s eight crew.  He was a member of the Cal varsity eight that won national championships in 2022 and 2023.

Kara Kohler, USA: The 33-year-old Kohler finished fifth in the women’s single sculls Final A on Saturday. Her time of 7:25.07 was nearly eight seconds slower than the winner, Karolein Florijn of Netherlands, and more than four seconds behind third-place finisher Viktorija Senkute of Lithuania. Although Kohler did not win a medal, she improved on her showing in the 2020 Olympics, when she did not reach the Final A and placed ninth overall in the women’s single sculls.  This was the third Olympics for Kohler, a 2014 Cal graduate, and she won a bronze medal in the 2012 Olympics in the women’s quadruple sculls.

Water Polo

Johnny Hooper, Luca Cupido, Adrian Weinberg, USA: Hooper, Cupido and Weinberg were all in the starting lineup for a United States team that pulled out a critical 12-7 victory over Montenegro to clinch a spot in the quarterfinals.

The Americans have two wins and two losses for six points in the standings in their four games in group play with one game left.  They are currently in fourth place in their six-team group and the top four teams advance. The U.S. needed to beat Montenegro, which came into Saturday’s game with no wins and three losses, but two of the losses were by penalty shootout, which gave them two points in the standings to the Americans’ three points. The Americans now have six points in the pool standings (three points for each win) and have already defeated Romania in group play, so the Americans would win a tie-breaker with Romania, which could still finish in a tie for fourth with the Americans.

Weinberg was again the U.S. goaltender and played the entire game after getting pulled in the previous match. He stopped 13 of 20 shots against Montenegro.  Neither Hooper nor Cupido scored a goal against Montenegro, but Hannes Daube scored five goals, including one in the first period that put the Americans ahead to stay at 2-1. Cupido was the college national player of the year in 2017 for Cal; Hooper was a three-time All-America selection while playing for the Golden Bears from 2015 to 2018), and Weisberg was a first-team All-American at Cal in 2023.

Nikolaos Papanikolaou, Greece: Papanikolaou played just four minutes and did not score in Greece’s 14-13 loss to Croatia. But Greece has still clinched a spot in the quarterfinals with three wins (including one penalty shootout win) and one loss in its four games in group play. The 23-year-old Papanikolaou was a three-time national college player of the year while at Cal.

Golf

Collin Morikawa, USA:  Cal graduate Morikawa fell well off the pace on Saturday when he shot a 1-under par 70 in the third round at Le Golf National course in Paris. He is 5-under for the tournament and enters Sunday’s final round nine strokes behind Jon Rahm of Spain and Xander Schauffele of the United States, who are tied for the lead at 14-under.  Getting any medal will be a chore for Morikawa, who is eight shots behind third-place Tommy Fleetwood of Great Britain.  Morikawa is tied for 23rd place entering the final round.

Byeong Hun An, South Korea: An, who spent one year at Cal before turning pro, is in a slightly better position that Morikawa after a sterling third round.  An shot a 5-under-par 66 on Saturday to leave him at 7-under, which is tied for 17th and seven shots behind the leaders heading into Sunday's final round.

Field Hockey

Megan Rodgers Valzonis, USA: Valzonis is a member of the Unites States women’s squad that beat South Africa 1-0 in its final game of pool play, but the Americans did not advance to the quarterfinals. The U.S. had one win, one tie and three losses in its five games in group play and finished fifth in its six-team group.  Only the first four finishers in each of the two groups qualify for the quarterfinals. Valzonis was not in the starting lineup against South Africa, which went 0-5 in pool play. This was the first Olympics for Valzonis, who led Cal in scoring all three of her seasons (2017-19).

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