Olympians Bender and Quiñones Are Headed to Paris

Engineering sciences major Billy Bender '24 and alum Isalys Quiñones '19 Th'20 will compete in rowing and basketball, respectively. (Photos courtesy of Dartmouth Athletics)

The Paris Olympics begin with an opening ceremony on July 26, and run to Sunday, August 9. The Summer Games will be broadcast live on Peacock and the NBC networks.

Dartmouth, long known as a leader in winter sports, has sent more representatives to the Winter Games than any other Ivy League school, dominating the collegiate medal count in skiing, hockey, and biathlon with 15 gold, nine silver, and five bronze medals.

But Big Green athletes have also participated in Summer Olympics going back to the London Games in 1908, competing primarily in track and field in the earlier era with a growing presence in rowing starting in the 1970s and in soccer, equestrian, and rugby after 2000. Dartmouth Summer Olympic athletes brought home six gold, eight silver, and six bronze medals, more than half of which were won in track and field competitions in the first half of the 20th Century.

William Bender '24

The current engineering major qualified for the USA men's heavyweight rowing team along with Oliver Bub '20 in the men's pair US Olympic finals in April. This will be the Vermont native and Hanover High alum's first trip to the Olympics, where Bender will compete in the men's pair with former Dartmouth rowing teammate Bub once again. Bender, who is also an avid Alpine and Nordic skier, along with Bub finished first in the April Olympic trials in Florida last April, and finished third in the varsity eight at the International Rowing Association nationals rowing for Dartmouth in 2021. Bender took a year off to train and expects to graduate in the spring of 2025.

Isalys Quiñones '19 Th'20

Quiñones, known as "Ice" to her teammates, led Dartmouth women's basketball in her senior year, averaging 14 points a game and winning the Gail Koziara '82 Most Valuable Player Award for the season. The California native earned her AB and BE in engineering sciences and was part of the first-ever Puerto Rican women's Olympic basketball team at the 2020 Tokyo Games, where the team finished at number 12. The starting center for the Puerto Rican women's team at the 2024 Games, Quiñones is also continuing her work as an environmental engineer at QNOPY Inc. based in her home state of California. She is reportedly pursuing an offer to play professional basketball in France after the Olympics and plans to keep her engineering job, as well.