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CHARLOTTESVILLE – Former Virginia rower Lindsay Shoop is a member of the 2008 U.S. Olympic Team. The rowing team’s roster has been set pending approval by the United States Olympic Committee.
The United States will have 13 crews competing in rowing events at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China. Shoop is a member of the women’s eight crew.
Shoop is a Charlottesville native and earned first-team All-America honors twice at Virginia. She graduated from The Covenant School in Charlottesville and earned her undergraduate degree from Virginia in 2003.
Shoop won a gold medal in the eight while rowing for the United States’ team at the World Rowing Championships in Munich, Germany, in September of 2007. The victory qualified the United States in that event for the 2008 Olympic Games.
Shoop also earned a gold medal and helped establish a world record with the United States’ eight at the 2006 World Championships.
She is not the only former Virginia rower set to participate in the Olympics, as Melanie Kok (St. Catharines, Ontario) will row for the Canadian lightweight double. Kok was an All-American at UVa and graduated in 2007.
Another UVa graduate, Wyatt Allen (Portland, Maine), was named to the Olympic men’s eight crew. Allen graduated in 2001 and was an Olympic gold medalist in the 2004 Olympic Games.
“We are all so proud of the Virginia alums that have been named to the 2008 Olympic rowing teams,” head coach Kevin Sauer said. “Their time at UVa helped to prepare them for the very real chance to be Olympic medalists.”
The rowing competition at the 2008 Olympics begins Aug. 9 and continues through Aug. 17. Finals are set for Aug. 16-17. The competition will take place at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park, located in Mapo Town in the Shunyi district of Beijing. The rowing course is located about 45 kilometers outside of downtown Beijing. The venue will also host the flat-water and slalom canoe-kayak competitions.