Grace Latz (born February 21, 1988) is an American

rower Rowing, often called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars (called blades in the United Kingdom) are attached to the boat using rowlocks, while paddles are ...

, Olympian, artist, and announcer.

Career

Rowing

Latz started rowing as a

walk-on Walk On may refer to: Music Albums * ''Walk On'' (Boston album) or the title song, 1994 * ''Walk On'' (John Hiatt album) or the title song, 1995 * ''Walk On'' (Randy Johnston album) or the title song, 1992 *''Walk On'', by Kellie Coffey, 200 ...

athlete at the

University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

. As a member of Badger women's rowing, she won a Big Ten Championship in the 2V8+ in 2008. In 2010, her performance in the V8+ helped the crew win its first and to-date only Big Ten Team Championship. Latz received the university's student-athlete community service award for co-founding ReThink Wisconsin, a recycling and sustainability program for on-campus athletic facilities. ReThink Wisconsin's founding group also included comedian Charlie Berens. Latz was a three-year member of the Iron Shield Society. Following her graduation, Latz rowed two seasons for

Vesper Boat Club The Vesper Boat Club is an amateur rowing club located at #10 Boathouse Row in the historic Boathouse Row of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1865 as the Washington Barge Club, the club's name was changed to Vesper Boat Club in 1870. ...

in Philadelphia. Representing the Vesper Tigers, Grace was a three-time competitor at the

Henley Royal Regatta Henley Royal Regatta (or Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage) is a Rowing (sport), rowing event held annually on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. It was established on 26 March 1839. It diffe ...

, Henley finalist in 2013 in the Princess Grace Challenge, and won the

Head of the Charles The Head of the Charles Regatta, also known as HOCR, is a rowing head race held on the penultimate complete weekend of October (i.e., on the Friday that falls between the 16th and the 22nd of the month, and on the Saturday and Sunday immed ...

in the women's championship four. She is one of two female lifetime members of Vesper Boat Club. In 2014, Latz won a bronze medal at the World Rowing Championships at the

Bosbaan The Bosbaan is a rowing lake situated in the Amsterdamse Bos (Amsterdam Forest) in Amstelveen, Netherlands. Amstelveen is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands and is part of the metropolitan area of Amsterdam. Confusingly, all built stru ...

in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, in the women’s quadruple sculls. In 2015 Latz, Kristine O'Brien, Adrienne Martelli and Grace Luczak took the gold medal in the

coxless four A coxless four, abbreviated as a 4- and also called a straight four, is a racing shell used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four persons who propel the boat with sweep oars, without a coxswain. The crew consists of four ...

at the

2015 World Rowing Championships The 2015 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 30 August to 6 September 2015 at the Lac d'Aiguebelette, Aiguebelette-le-Lac in France. Description The annual week-long rowing regatta was organized by ...

in Aiguebelette, France. In 2016, Latz was a finalist in the women’s quadruple sculls in the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, placing fifth. At the 2017 World Championships in Sarasota, Florida, Latz placed fourth in the women's eights. By earning her spot on the 2016 Olympic team, Latz continued the streak for the University of Wisconsin to have an alumni compete in rowing at every Olympic Games since 1968. The streak has continued on through Paris 2024.

Art

Latz was one of four Olympians selected for th
Paris 2024 Olympian-Artist Program
to implement collaborative and community-based art. Through reassembling donated uniforms and equipment from Olympic sports through a local recycling center, she created a large-scale tapestry of the Olympic rings with the support senior Parisian citizen
in the lead up to the 2024 Olympics
The piece will be on display during the Paris 2024 Games at Clubhouse 24 and will subsequently become part of the collection of the

Olympic Museum The Olympic Museum () in Lausanne, Switzerland houses permanent and temporary exhibits relating to sport and the Olympic movement. With more than 10,000 artifacts, the museum is the largest archive of Olympic Games memorabilia in the world and on ...

in Lausanne, Switzerland. Latz was previously selected for the Tokyo 2020 Olympian-Artist Program, however, that community-based project was postponed and eventually cancelled following the onset of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Broadcasting

Latz was hired to announce the 2024 US Olympic and Paralympic Trials - Rowing together with

Lindsay Shoop Lindsay Shoop (born September 25, 1981) is an American rower. She competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics, where she won a gold medal in women's eight. She rowed at the University of Virginia (UVA). Shoop was born in Charlottesville, Virginia. I ...

. Latz was also part of the broadcasting teams for the 2024 Big Ten Women's Rowing Championships, 2024 NCAA Women's Rowing Championships, and has co-hosted

USRowing The United States Rowing Association, commonly known as USRowing, is the national governing body for the sport of Rowing in the United States. It serves to promote the sport on all levels of competition, including the selection and training of ...

's Youth National Championships broadcast since 2023.

References

External links

Grace Latz
at

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Latz, Grace 1988 births Living people American female rowers Sportspeople from Jackson, Michigan World Rowing Championships medalists for the United States Rowers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic rowers for the United States 21st-century American sportswomen Wisconsin Badgers women's rowers