A Colorado rower’s unconventional journey to the Olympics

DENVER (KDVR) – A rower from Colorado is heading to the Olympics in Paris, but not the route most people would follow.

She hopes her story can be an inspiration to others who want to follow their Olympic dream.

Jessica Thoennes and her family moved to Littleton, Colorado when she was in middle school. She attended Mountain Vista High School where she played basketball and volleyball.

After graduating high school, she visited Seattle, where her friend was on the University of Washington rowing team.

“She’s like, ‘Hey, my coach wants to meet you,’” Thoennes said. “Enter the Conibear Shellhouse at the University of Washington. And I go down the stairs and down there is the women’s head coach, the women’s assistant head coach, the assistants, the men’s head coach, the assistant coach.”

As he sat there at the meeting, he couldn’t help but think how stupid that was.

“They sat me down and said, ‘I think you could be good at this.’ And I said, “Mm, I’m going to be a volleyball star. Thanks, though,’” Thoennes said.

She eventually agreed to an official campus visit, but she still wasn’t convinced that rowing was right for her.

After a few months of thinking about schools, the University of Washington came back to mind.

“I was like, you know what, what’s a year?” Thoennes said. “Take a risk.”

So he packed his two bags and moved from Littleton to Washington.

“I was a go-getter,” Thoennes said. “And I was miserable,” she added with a laugh. “Really, really bad. I was terrible. I wasn’t good.”

Two years passed and it finally started to click.

“I fell in love with him. I fell in love with the process,” she said.

In 2020, he headed to Tokyo for the Olympics, where he competed in rowing.

“I made the dream. I made the Olympic team,” Thoennes said. “I think it took a long time for it to sink in the first time.”

Now she’s at the national rowing team’s training facility in Princeton, New Jersey, preparing for this summer’s Paris Olympics.

“This time, I just want to make sure that, like, my partner, who’s now a first-time Olympian, you know, I want her to have the best experience,” she said.

Something new this time, her loved ones will get to cheer her on from the sidelines.

“My parents and my sisters are actually coming, which is great because… no one has to come to Tokyo. So this will be the first international race my father will see in person,” Thoennes said with a smile. “And then my partner of five years, he’s coming too, which I’m really excited about.”

Since Thoennes didn’t have the most conventional path to the Olympics, she hopes she can inspire others to follow their dreams and not settle for any sport.

“I think everyone should try every sport they can. Don’t specialize. Do what you want,” Thoennes said. “Fail as many times as you can. And feel it. And let that happen. Let the hard things happen because you will get better. And I failed a thousand times. And I will fail a thousand more times. And you keep betting on yourself.”