Cecile Tucker

Rowing

Cecile Tucker always knew her great-grandfather did something special once. She even remembered the story about how someone should grab his laurel wreath if the house ever burned down.

Now the rower from Philadelphia is carrying on a family tradition as a member of the U.S. women’s quad boat at the Olympic Games a full century after John Paine won a gold for shooting.

“It’s sort of neat that it was exactly 100 years ago,” Tucker said.

“What are the chances of this happening? Really slim. So it’s been a really fun aspect of these whole Games for me, really unexpected.”

She doesn’t know which family member still has Paine’s wreath, which is tucked away for safekeeping. But she’s been studying up on her great-grandfather

Tucker learned his gold medal and wreath came in military revolver.

“I didn’t know this until a couple days ago: He also went to Harvard, where I graduated from, and we graduated 100 years apart, too, 1991 and 1891. It’s a big 100-year coincidence there.”

Tucker grew up in Warren, Maine, growing blueberries and working her family’s sheep farm. But she never gave much thought of competing in the Olympics beyond listening to stories about her great-grandfather.

A good high school athlete, Tucker discovered rowing at Harvard as a freshman. She worked her way to crew captain as a senior.

“Rowing is a pretty unique sport in that you can begin with no prior experience at a Division I level and accomplish quite a lot,” she said.

For the U.S. quad scull, in which rowers use two oars, to medal, it will have to come back through the repechage, a second-chance race, after finishing fifth Monday in a preliminary heat.

When Tucker retires after the Games, it will leave carrying on the family Olympic tradition to her sister, Willy, and her husband. Both failed to qualify for the U.S. rowing team this year.