In Rowing, Men’s Four Wins First Olympic Gold Medal Since 1960

VAIRES-SUR-MARNE, France — The last time a U.S. crew in the coxless men’s four stood atop the podium, Dwight D. Eisenhower was president. 

At the Olympic Games Paris 2024, Liam Corrigan, Michael Grady, Justin Best and Nick Mead updated that stat. In rowing’s 2,000-meter men’s four final, they held off a charging New Zealand crew to win an Olympic gold medal.

“The words exist, I think, but I can't put them together right now about how that feels,” said Best, who could not hold back his tears on the podium.

“It's literally unbelievable,” added Corrigan, a Harvard University and University of Oxford grad who stroked the boat. “I crossed the line, and I thought I was going to have some kind of celebration. But it was just disbelief. My hands were on my head. It felt like a dream, it was crazy.”

For those who follow rowing, a medal in the men’s four seemed within reach at these Olympic Games. This same crew won silver at the 2023 world championships last September, finishing 2.02 seconds behind Great Britain. But in Paris, in the men’s four final, this crew made it clear they had one medal in mind: gold. 

The race was going according to plan, with the U.S. boat in the lead and gaining. Then at 600-meters-to-go, New Zealand surged, gaining one seat, then another back, on the U.S. crew. The Kiwis in the crowd roared, the Americans held their breath. 

But the boys in the boat had a plan. Corrigan called “red.”

“You know when he makes that call, you see red,” explained Best. “You put your bow ball out in front, you take some of the bigger strokes that you take in the race. It's not necessarily the smartest race plan, but it's something psychology-wise, you can take two to three seats.”
Best, who rows in seat 3, could feel Mead (in bow behind him) and see Grady in seat 2 ahead follow Corrigan’s command.

“That was enough to dull that move [by New Zealand] and take us into our sprint,” Best continued. “Pretty flawless execution on the call, and we trusted each other to all make that move together, and it was effective.”

In the sprint, Corrigan took the stroke rate up to an astonishing 45 strokes per minute. They crossed the line in 5:49.03, holding off New Zealand by 0.85 of a second. Great Britain rounded out the podium, 3.39 seconds off the U.S. boat’s pace.

While the crowd was on the edge of its seat, Coach Casey Galvanek was less worried. The men in the four followed the same pattern that he has seen since he began working with them in 2023.

“They would have a good start, execute, settle, carry the momentum, and that has put them in that position typically,” Galvanek said. “So I didn't think they were going to just fade away. It was well executed.”

While the U.S. women’s eight had a long streak of domination on the world stage in the 2000s and 2010s, other U.S. boats have been less successful. So what made this crew click?

One big reason: Corrigan, Grady, Best and Mead have rowed the four together for two years — a long time for U.S. rowers who typically make boats through yearly selection races and camps. And they have rowed in various boats together for a decade. Corrigan remembered rowing in the junior men’s eight with Grady in 2014, Grady and Best won the U23 world championships in the men’s eight, etc. Then in college — Corrigan at Harvard, Grady at Cornell Univesrity, Best at Drexel University, Mead at Princeton University — they rowed against each other in intercollegiate regattas. Since 2019, they have been in and out of various national team boats together and against each other.

“There's so much trust that's developed in that amount of time,” explained Corrigan. “You feel like one unit, like it doesn't feel like four people; it feels like one boat. That sounds so cliche, but that's how I really feel about it.”

At the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, Corrigan, Mead and Best were all part of the men’s eight that finished fourth. Grady was in the men’s four that took fifth.

Then in 2023, this men’s four started to mesh, and by world championships last September, they were clicking. In the final, Corrigan, Grady, Best and Mead won the silver medal and secured a spot for the boat in the Paris Olympic Games.

But this Olympic berth did not secure them seats in that boat. Josy Verdonkschot, USRowing’s high performance director, gave the men “some rules” for performance.

“He told them if you do this performance-wise, then we won't need to introduce other people into selection (for this boat),’” Galvanek remembered Verdonkschot telling the boat. “He gave them goals to keep them on top of their game instead of just fading away.”

The men had other motivation to keep their performance on track: they all thought back to their almost-podium-finishes at the Tokyo Games. Best has a recording of the men’s eight’s 2020 Olympic race saved on his computer. 

“On the very tough days, I'd pull it out and I'd watch it again and see us get fourth,” he said. “All of a sudden, when you're tired and you don't want to go to that training or you can't go out and have fun with your friends on a Friday night, you watch that recording, and all of a sudden, everything becomes a lot easier. 

“I watched it many, many times, and I remember the feeling of leaving that course. I said I never want to feel that that way again.”

As they have trained together over the past two years, the 2024 U.S. Olympic men’s four had time to truly bond.

“We have a group of four guys who love each other,” said Best. “It’s special, I can't describe it because it really is just like that ethereal bond we've created over the last few years. I'm just so happy to see all that we put into it come out on the right side of things. 

“Now we have a physical reminder of everything that we put in,” Best added, as he clutched his Olympic gold medal, “And we'll have this for the rest of our lives.”

An award-winning freelance writer based in Vermont, Peggy Shinn is in Paris covering her eighth Olympic Games. She has contributed to TeamUSA.org since its inception in 2008.