John Tanguay, CC '20, Earns Silver At 2020 Paralympic Games

Upper West Side NY

09 September, 2021

3:56 PM

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Columbia Daily Spectator BY REBECCA WACHEN SEPTEMBER 9, 2021 John Tanguay, CC '20, was the last of the 13 Columbia Lions to compete in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Tanguay and his crew had a successful finish, earning a silver medal for Team USA in the Final A race and making history as the first Columbia Lion to bring home an Olympic medal in rowing. Tanguay and the rest of his PR3 mixed four with coxswain crew finished with a time of 7:20.13, falling 11 seconds short of Great Britain and placing seven seconds ahead of the French team. Tanguay and his crew's second-place performance followed a period of remote practice where he simultaneously rowed and studied in Ireland as the rest of his boatmates trained in various locations across the United States. "There is a goal at the end of this that we want to achieve," Tanguay said about training remotely for the Paralympics. "Through all the solo training sessions it will [have been] worth it." The team's second-place finish mirrors the result of the 2019 World Rowing Championships. There, Team USA also earned a silver medal to Great Britain's gold, which allowed the boat to qualify for the 2020 Paralympics. Tanguay is the twenty-third Columbia University alumnus to medal at the Olympics and the only medalist from the 2020 Games. At Columbia, Tanguay was an asset to the team, rowing from the fifth seat for the Second Varsity Eight his junior season in both the EARC Sprints and the IRA National Championships. Tanguay graduated from Columbia University in 2020 with a degree in computer science and is currently working toward a Master of Science in operations and supply chain management from Trinity Business School in Dublin, Ireland. Staff writer Rebecca Wachen can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @rebecca_wachen. Founded in 1877, the Columbia Daily Spectator is the independent undergraduate newspaper of Columbia University, serving thousands of readers in Morningside Heights, West Harlem, and beyond. Read more at columbiaspectator.com and donate here.