Elite American rower Charlotte Buck, a resident of Nyack, New York, will compete for the United States in the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. At the age of 19, she began rowing, and since then, she has risen to the pinnacle of the sport. She was considered the finest rower at Colombia University and serves as the team captain. She is an outstanding artist and skilled canoeist.
Paris will be Charlotte’s second Olympic Games
The Paris Olympics in 2024 will be the second time Charlotte Buck competes at the Olympic Games. She is one of the 113 female rowers announced by USRowing who will make up the women’s eight-person boat and the four-person boat teams for the Paris Olympics.
Charlotte was the stroke rower in the women’s eight boat that won the silver medal at the 2023 World Rowing Championships in Belgrade, Serbia. This result earned her selection to represent the United States at the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics.
On her Instagram, Charlotte expressed deep gratitude for everyone who made being on the team possible. She said her experience with the national team so far has been great and she looks forward to what next year will bring when she competes at the Paris Olympics.
About Charlotte Buck and her Family
Charlotte Buck was born on February 15, 1995, in Nyack, New York.
Her father Roger is a scientist who works at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades. Her mother Sharon Quayle is an OB-GYN doctor with a local medical practice.
Charlotte has a sister named Suzanna Buck who helped get her interested in rowing and has always supported her.
Their mother Sharon also rows and competes in regattas for the Rockland Rowing team. Charlotte has been a vegetarian since the 4th grade. She enjoys cooking vegan food and runs an Instagram page called @vegan_testkitchen to share vegan recipes.
In high school, Charlotte played tennis and basketball. She was also involved in theater and debate activities. From a young age, Charlotte was always interested in many different sports and activities.
She still enjoys playing lawn games like Kubb or “Viking Chess” in her free time, as well as listening to the “You’re Wrong About” podcast and crafting. Charlotte is originally from Nyack, New York where she attended Nyack High School before going to Columbia University.
How Charlotte Buck Redirected her Interest towards Rowing
In high school, Charlotte Buck played tennis and enjoyed activities like debate, chamber orchestra, and theater more than typical high school sports. However, after graduating, she decided she wanted to make the rowing team at Columbia University. Between her senior year of high school and starting at Columbia, Charlotte began rowing with the Rockland Rowing Association, even getting her mom to go out on the water and row doubles with her.
Charlotte started serious rowing training at age 19, just one year before joining Columbia’s team. Six years later, she has risen to be one of the top competitors, working hard to secure a spot at the Olympics. After graduating from Columbia, she kept training while also coaching for Rockland Rowing.
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It wasn’t until Charlotte got to college that she acted on her sister Suzanna’s suggestion to try rowing instead of the theater and debate activities she did in high school. In her junior year at Columbia, she was elected team captain, a role she kept until graduating. Charlotte was among the fastest rowers and seemed a natural leader.
Two things made her love rowing – the peaceful stillness of being on the water early morning with singing birds, and the rhythmic “whoosh, kerplunk” sounds of the oars cutting the water. She also valued the camaraderie with her teammates. Charlotte thrived in this environment and was voted team MVP and captain in 2017 and 2018. She even won gold in the senior pair, four, and eight events at the 2017 USRowing Club National Championships.
Despite the Olympics seeming like a distant dream at first, Charlotte continued, making it her goal to become an Olympic rower.
Charlotte Buck’s Fast Glory in Rowing
In 2017 and 2018, she was the team captain and won the MVP award while rowing for Columbia University.
She was then selected for the U.S. team at the 2018 World University Rowing Championships in China, where her boat won the bronze medal.
In 2019, after performing amazingly in virtual rowing machine competitions and finishing second to the women’s world record holder, Charlotte was invited to the US Rowing training and selection camps for the women’s national team.
Early in 2020, with Nick Dawe from the New York Athletic Club as her coach, she won gold in the coxless quad skulls event at the New Zealand Rowing Nationals while teaming with three New Zealand rowers. She also made it to two singles skull finals at that competition.
As Charlotte continued having success at international rowing events, she earned an invitation to the USRowing training and selection camps for the women’s team in Chula Vista, California.
Charlotte won through the selection process and was named to the U.S. Olympic team to compete in the eight-person boat event, along with seven other rowers and a coxswain. The U.S. women’s eight crew was the defending Olympic champion, having won gold at the previous three Olympic Games.
However, in the 2,000-meter Olympic race itself, the young U.S. eight team finished fourth, 2.5 seconds behind China – a disappointing result for a crew expected to medal. Charlotte described the experience as heartbreaking.
At the 2023 World Rowing Championships, Charlotte won a silver medal in the women’s eight event, securing her selection to represent the USA again at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
In Paris, she will be competing in both the eight-person and four-person boat categories for the U.S. National Rowing Team.
