On Thursday, Lyme-Old Lyme High School graduate Liam Corrigan led Team USA to its first Olympic gold medal in the men's four rowing since 1960.
“You look at it and you go, 'Wow, they were done in six minutes, but it was like six years of really intense training,'” said Blood Street Sculls Director of Rowing Paul Fuchs.
Six minutes in Paris, and a decade-long pursuit. Old Lyme native Liam Corrigan set the pace to gold on Thursday morning as his rowing community back home watched with joy.
“Really excited -- there was just a huge sense of pride,” said Lyme-Old Lyme sophomore and rower Gavin Goulis.
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“I was probably just as nervous as his parents,” said Corrigan’s high school rowing and basketball coach Louis Zubek.
Zubek may have been nervous, but he was also completely confident, because if there’s anyone who knows what Corrigan has in the tank, it’s his former coach.
“You have the build, you have the mentality, you have the endurance, you have the focus, so all I had to do was convince him to join the team,” Zubek said recalling when Corrigan was a freshman in high school.
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Zubek first saw Corrigan’s potential while coaching him in freshman basketball, but doubling as crew coach, he recognized an even better fit.
“He was the type of athlete who could push his body to the limits and really understood that what you put into practice and preparation is what you get out at the end which is so hard for a young high school kid, like so hard,” he said.
Corrigan’s time rowing with the Wildcats and Blood Street Sculls rowing club provided the springboard for a world-class career.
“There’s no focus on trying to make an Olympian, but it evolves and it’s happened more than once,” Fuchs said.
The first time came with two-time Olympian and fellow Lyme-Old Lyme High School alum Austin Hack, who rowed with Corrigan in the Tokyo Games.
“You could be the best coach in the world. You can come up with the best workouts, the best plan, the best game-plan in any sport, but it’s the athlete that actually has to produce,” Zubek said.
From state titles, a rowing career at Harvard University, two Olympic appearances and now a gold medal, Corrigan’s success has come as little surprise to those who’ve witnessed the work.
“We know Liam a little bit,” Fuchs said with a laugh. “He doesn’t like to lose.”
His accomplishments serve as an inspiration for the next generation in line.
“Having him as like an inspiration to look up at is something very unique,” said Lyme-Old Lyme High School alum and rower Nyla Goulis.
“To see someone who started here go all the way up to the Olympics and win, it’s been really inspiring, great motivation to keep me going,” said Lyme-Old Lyme High School sophomore and rower Harrison Goulis.
