Doonan named to U.S. Olympic Rowing Team

PRINCETON, N.J. – Former University of Texas Rowing great Gia Doonan is one of 30 athletes selected to represent the United States at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the United States Rowing Association announced Friday. Doonan will become the first Texas rower in program history to compete in the Olympics.

The USRowing roster is pending final approval from the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee. Doonan will compete with the three-time defending Olympic champion women's eight.

"It's hard to express how proud and happy I am for Gia. She has worked so incredibly hard, and I know she's been pushed to the limit in many ways to make the USA squad," said Texas head coach Dave O'Neill. "I was fortunate to have her on the team when I arrived at UT, and her impact on our program cannot be overstated. There's no way our team wins this past weekend without the work standard and culture she established years before. I cannot think of someone more deserving to be the first Olympian from Texas Rowing, and she's going to have great success in Tokyo."

Doonan has been a member of the USRowing Senior National Team since 2017. She previously competed for the United States at the 2018 and 2019 World Rowing Championships and World Rowing Cup. In 2019, Doonan rowed with the eight in their third-place finish at the World Rowing Championships. She also was a member of the four that took second at the World Rowing Cup I and the eight that finished second at the World Rowing Cup II. Doonan finished ninth in the pair and first in the eight at the 2018 World Championships and placed third in the eight at the 2018 World Rowing Cup III.

As a member of the United States U23 team, Doonan helped the Americans win gold in the 8+ and 4- at the 2016 World Rowing Under-23 Championships.

During her time at Texas, Doonan was a three-time College Rowing Coaches Association (CRCA) All-America first-team selection (2015-17) and the only two-time selection as the Big 12 Conference Rower of the Year (2015 and 2017) in league history. She was a four-time first-team All-Big 12 honoree and three-time Big 12 Conference champion.

The 2020 Olympic Games will be held July 23-August 9. Rowing events are slated to start on Friday, July 23, and the Women's Eight Heats are scheduled to begin on Sunday, July 25.

USRowing - Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games Camp-Selected Boats
Women's Eight
Charlotte Buck (Nyack, N.Y./Columbia University)
Olivia Coffey (Watkins Glen, N.Y./Harvard University)
Gia Doonan (Rochester, Mass./The University of Texas)
Katelin Guregian (Detroit, Mich./University of Washington)
Brooke Mooney (Peru, Vt./University of Washington)
Meghan Musnicki (Naples, N.Y./Ithaca College)
Kristine O'Brien (Massapequa Park, N.Y./University of Virginia)
Regina Salmons (Methuen, Mass./University of Pennsylvania)
Jessica Thoennes (Highlands Ranch, Colo./University of Washington)

Men's Eight
Justin Best (Kennett Square, Pa./Drexel University)
Liam Corrigan (Old Lyme, Conn./Harvard University)
Ben Davison (Inverness, Fla./University of Washington)
Austin Hack (Old Lyme, Conn./Stanford University)
Conor Harrity (Weston, Mass./Harvard University)
Nick Mead (Strafford, Pa./Princeton University)
Alex Miklasevich (Pittsburgh, Pa./Brown University)
Alexander Richards (Watertown, Mass./Harvard University)
Julian Venonsky (Malvern, Pa./University of California, Berkeley)

Women's Quadruple Sculls
Cicely Madden (Weston, Mass./Brown University)
Meghan O'Leary (Baton Rouge, La./University of Virginia)
Alie Rusher (Glenview, Ill./Stanford University)
Ellen Tomek (Flushing, Mich./University of Michigan)

Women's Four
Kendall Chase (Evergreen, Colo./University of California, Berkeley)
Claire Collins (McLean, Va./Princeton University)
Grace Luczak (Ann Arbor, Mich./Stanford University)
Madeleine Wanamaker (Neenah, Wis./University of Wisconsin)

Men's Four
Clark Dean (Sarasota, Fla./Harvard University)
Michael Grady (Pittsburgh, Pa./Cornell University)
Andrew Reed (Wayland, Mass./Harvard University)
Anders Weiss (Barrington, R.I./Brown University)

The University of Texas at Austin Athletics