If Dartmouth were a country, it would rank 43rd among nations for total medals won at the Olympic games, with 63 overall. Ahead of countries like Mexico, Iran and Ethiopia, the Big Green’s 29 gold, 21 silver and 13 bronze medals stand as a testament to the school’s storied history at the Olympics.
Since 1908, when recent graduate Arthur Shaw ’08 won a bronze medal in the 110-meter hurdles at the Games of the Fourth Olympiad in London, Dartmouth has sent over 150 athletes to compete in the Olympic Games, to all but one Summer Olympics since 1908 and to every Winter Games since its founding in 1924.
Despite Dartmouth’s impressive Olympic history, there is no single, easily accessible and searchable record of Big Green Olympians. While articles released by Dartmouth Now, U.S. News & World Report and press releases from the College athletics department provide information, the data is incomplete and inconsistent.
Only one known collection of first-hand accounts from Dartmouth Olympians exists, a 2013 masters thesis written by Jennifer Titus Johnson, which also stressed the lack of data.
Despite the lack of a clear history, Dartmouth’s role in producing Olympic athletes is widely recognized.
One of the many ways Dartmouth has supported athletes is the so-called 15-year plan, which allows athletes the flexibility to take numerous off-terms to train and participate in the games. Many winter sport athletes take classes during the spring and off-terms during the fall, winter and summer to accommodate full-time training.
At Dartmouth, athletes have access to superior training facilities, strong coaching and an environment conducive to Winter Olympics practice.
Aided by the Dartmouth Skiway, the College is considered a premier college for aspiring winter Olympians. A 2010 U.S. News & World Report article called the Dartmouth ski team “a pipeline of Olympic talent,” because of the focus student athletes must bring to schoolowrk and sports.
Laurel Anderson ’14, a cross-country skier, said she thinks Dartmouth is a great location for prospective Olympic skiers because of the strong coaching and the fact that professors are accommodating when skiers have to miss class.
“The coaches work hard to make sure everyone on the team can do every workout, despite any conflicts with classes or labs,” Anderson said.
With 110 appearances in the Winter Games, Dartmouth holds the distinction of most Olympic appearances in the Ivy League, according to U.S. News & World Report. Harvard, second in the League, has seen 77 appearances, according to the U.S. News & World Report.
Dartmouth Olympians have represented 15 different flags, most commonly the U.S. and Canada.
International politics have occasionally delayed Dartmouth athletes’ Olympic aspirations. Rowers Charlotte Geer ’80 and Julia Geer ’75 were selected to participated in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, but could not compete because the games were boycotted by the Carter Administration. Both had another chance to compete, and Charlotte Geer won silver in 1984 in Los Angeles, the first medal won by a Dartmouth woman.
It wouldn’t be for another 14 years, at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, that another woman would win a medal. Gretchen Ulion ’94 and Sarah Tueting ’98 won the gold medal with the U.S. women’s hockey team.
Luger Cameron Myler ’92 holds the record for the most Olympics appearances by a Dartmouth athlete, competing in four consecutive Winter Games from 1988 to 1998. She also had the opportunity to carry the American flag in the opening ceremony of the 1994 Lillehammer games.
John Shea ’34 (gold – speed skating), Robert Minton ’26 (bronze - bobsled) and Douglas Everett ’26 (silver - hockey) were the first men to medal in a Winter Olympics during the 1932 Winter Games in Lake Placid, N.Y. Shea won two gold medals, making him the first multi-medal winner for Dartmouth.
Shea holds the distinction of being the only non-hockey ice skater from Dartmouth to compete. No figure skater and or speed skater has appeared in the games before or after Shea.
Jojo Miller ’14, a current member of the College’s club figure skating team, attributed the lack of Dartmouth Olympic figure skaters to the amount of training required and age at which skaters usually compete.
The women’s hockey team, on the other hand, boasts a strong history of medal winners.
Cherie Piper ’06, Katherine Weatherston ’06 and Gillian Apps ’06 were members of the gold medal-winning Canadian woman’s hockey team in Torino.
Apps and Piper returned to team Canada to take the 2010 gold medal, Piper’s third and Apps’ second. Piper won her first gold medal at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games when her Canadian team defeated Tueting’s U.S. squad.
Although women’s hockey possesses the most medals for an Olympic sport, men’s hockey has had its fair share of Olympic representation, including eight players on the 1948 American hockey team.
Current men’s hockey players said they value the legacy their predecessors left behind.
“We just have to try and live up to the tradition and respect the place and respect the program, and just look up to those guys and try to get better,” Geoff Ferguson ’16 said.
During the most recent Olympic Games in London two years ago, Dartmouth was represented by four alumni — Sean Furey ’04 (javelin), Evelyn Stevens ’05 (road cycling), Erik Storck ’07 (sailing-49er class) and Anthony Fahden ’08 (lightweight crew-men’s four).
Abbey D’Agostino ’14 and Ben True ’08 barely missed competing in the 2012 Games in the 5,000-meter race, both earning top-six finishes at the U.S. Olympic trials.
In 2010, 10 Dartmouth athletes qualified for the Vancouver Olympics, the most recent Winter Games.
The 25 Dartmouth athletes striving to qualify for the 2014 Winter Games follow a storied history. The Big Green will be watching to see how its legacy continues.
