Sarasota rower Clark Dean takes Olympic bronze with U.S. Men's Eight

Another Sarasota athlete has added an Olympic medal to his collection. 

Rower Clark Dean, who grew up hitting the water with Sarasota Crew, won a bronze medal with Team USA in the Men's Eight at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The event, held at 5:10 a.m. Saturday, saw Dean and his crew mates grab third-place positioning after the first 500 meters of the 2,000-meter race and never lose it. The boat finished in 5:25.28. 

Dean was in the boat No. 4 seat. Though the boat was behind the Netherlands (5:23.92) and first-place Great Britain (5:22.88), it was also solidly ahead of Germany (5:29.80) for bronze. 

🥉BRONZE FOR THE MEN’S EIGHT 🥉

The U.S. men’s eight wins BRONZE, @TeamUSA’s first medal in the event since #Beijing2008.#Paris2024 #RowToParis #ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/Xk4MVYRPzm

— USRowing (@usrowing) August 3, 2024

It is Team USA's first medal in the Men's Eight since 2008, and for Dean — bottom row, second from the right in the above photo — it is his first Olympic medal after finishing fifth in the Men's Four at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The Olympic cycle has been a full-circle experience for Dean, as his former Sarasota Crew Head Coach, Casey Galvanek, is the head sweep coach with USRowing for the Paris Olympics. 

Now that he has medaled, Dean will get to do the other thing he wanted to do in Paris: experience it as "the biggest, most distracting festival" on Earth. 

Fans can celebrate Dean's medal at Nathan Benderson Park at 1 p.m. Saturday, rain or shine. The event will re-air the race and other rowing events on the park Jumbotron and feature food trucks, live music, kids' inflatables and lawn games. The event will also feature a learn to row session with members of Sarasota Crew for adults and kids ages 8 and up. For more information, visit NathanBendersonPark.org.