Aspiring Olympians training in Vermont are cheering the announcement from the United States Olympic Committee to go with Boston as the city it's proposing as host of the 2024 Olympic Summer Games.
"The idea of having [the Olympics] domestically would be a dream come true," said John Graves, one member of a four-man team of rowers that trains at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center.
Graves, his brother, Peter, Steve Whelpey, and Ben Dann hope to represent the United States in the 2016 Olympics in Rio in the men's quadruple scull. They took bronze last year in Switzerland at the final stop in the World Rowing Cup, and are now training in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom in advance of Olympic qualifying races.
"I'm really envious of those athletes that are going to be hitting their prime and hitting their peak for the 2024 Olympics, should they be in Boston," Whelpey said.
Wherever the 2024 games are held, there's a good chance Vermont's Green Racing Project will have athletes hoping for a slot. It's an Olympic development program housed at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center that focuses on rowing, biathlon, and Nordic skiing.
"Cross country skiing serves as great cross training for us," noted Peter Graves, a sculler who competed in the 2012 Summer Games in London.
Peter Graves said he has a few Head of the Charles wins under his belt, and praised that popular regatta for having made the Charles River between Boston and Cambridge one of the world's premiere spots for competitive rowing. "London was great; they love rowing," he told New England Cable News. "But Boston would be outstanding."
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"Boston's kind of like the new town for rowing," Ben Dann added, noting he expects that reputation would only grow if Boston does play host to the Summer Games in 2024. "I might have less hair [nine years from now], but if it's in Boston, that could be a good reason to stick with it!"
