Christian Ahrens (born July 24, 1976 in

Iowa City, Iowa Iowa City, offically the City of Iowa City is a city in Johnson County, Iowa, United States. It is the home of the University of Iowa and county seat of Johnson County, at the center of the Iowa City Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the time ...

) is a former American rower. He is a dual Olympian, an Olympic gold medal winner, and a four-time world champion.

Early life

Ahrens was born in Iowa City, Iowa, on July 24, 1976, to Gary and Patricia Ahrens. His father, Gary, had rowed in high school and at Milwaukee Rowing Club. When Christian was only six years old, his father began teaching him how to row in a flat-bottom boat tied to a clothesline on the

Milwaukee River The Milwaukee River is a river in the state of Wisconsin. It is about long.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed May 19, 2011 Once a locus of industry, the river is now the c ...

. He began rowing more seriously his freshman year of high school, again coached by his father, after deciding that he "wasn't going to go anywhere in swimming."

College

Ahrens is a 1998 graduate of

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

who rowed for the

Princeton Tigers The Princeton Tigers are the athletic teams of Princeton University. The school sponsors 35 varsity teams in 20 sports. The school has won several NCAA national championships, including one in men's fencing, three in women's lacrosse, six in m ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

national team. He was honored by

The Daily Princetonian ''The Daily Princetonian'', originally known as ''The Princetonian'' and nicknamed the Prince, is the independent daily student newspaper of Princeton University. Founded on June 14, 1876 as ''The'' ''Princetonian'', it changed its name to ''T ...

as the 18th most successful athlete in the school's history.

International rowing career

Ahrens stroked the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

winning United States men's eight at the 1997, 1998, and 1999 world championships, and was in the six seat for their fifth place 2000 Sydney Olympic boat. Ahrens came out of retirement in 2004 to join the US

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

squad in the three seat of the gold medal winning boat. This boat was notable not only for being the first US eight to win Olympic gold since 1964, but it also set a new course and world record of 5:19.85. That world best time stood until a Canadian eight took half a second off it in 2012. Ahrens retired from international rowing immediately upon crossing the finish line at the 2004 Olympics. He lives in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

with his wife and two daughters.

References

1976 births Living people Princeton University alumni Rowers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United States in rowing American male rowers Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics World Rowing Championships medalists for the United States Sportspeople from Brooklyn {{US-rowing-Olympic-medalist-stub