By Natalie Dillon

ndillon@

themonroetimes.com

BELLEVILLE — Lauren O’Connor, a 2016 Belleville graduate, will be heading to the 2024 Paris Olympics in the women’s quadruple sculls.

“It’s still surreal,” O’Connor said of her first Olympic experience. “I don’t think it will sink in until we get there. This group of people are awesome.”

O’Connor and her teammates qualified for the Olympics in May by winning the 2024 World Rowing Final Qualification Regatta in Switzerland. The top two teams in that event moved on, which included Ukraine. 

“We had a great race in May, and we will just keep building on that,” O’Connor said. 

Prior to the Olympic trials, O’Connor rowed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison as a walk-on. In fact, O’Connor didn’t begin rowing until college. 

Since graduating from UW, O’Connor has spent three years training for this moment. She applied for various rowing clubs and currently trains with Arion out of New York.

O’Connor and her teammates will compete in the first heats Saturday, July 27 at 5:50 p.m. NBC will air the 2024 Paris Olympics, which begin July 26 and end on Sunday, Aug. 11.