Issue link: https://www.wacmagazine.com/i/1544632
26 WAC Magazine | wac.net living fit meet the athlete Meet the athlete Chiara Ondoli By Mae Folsom Jacobson Chiara Ondoli hails from Angera, a small town in Italy located at the southern end of Lake Maggiore. She started rowing at age 11 and won a gold medal in the quad at the 2013 Junior World Rowing Championship eight years later. Chiara moved to Seattle in 2015 to row for the University of Washington. She competed for Italy in double sculls in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and joined the WAC in spring 2025. Chiara works in retail man- agement and competes with the WAC women's crew. Q. What were the highlights of your UW career? A. In 2017, we won the NCAA Championships. It was the first year with a new coach, so it was a year of changes. Winning was awesome. Q. What was your Olympic experience like? A. ere was no crowd because of COVID, so the only spec- tators were other rowers. It was still really cool because I was used to smaller competitions. It was also a unique time when rowers got to stay in the Olympic Village because the water was nearby. Q. What life lessons have you learned from rowing? A. e hard work, teamwork, and high performance of rowing prepared me to get through so many stressful moments. I never get discouraged because I carry that with me. In Italy we Q U I N N T O O M E Y ( 2 ) say, "Il canottaggio รจ una scuola di vita," which means, "Rowing is a school of life." Q. What is it about rowing that keeps you coming back? A. You have to be a perfectionist and you have to do it with other people. I like the attention to detail, and the teamwork aspect is unique. You have to be mentally and physically in sync. The men's team will also race at the Windermere Cup. Team members are: WAC ROWING TEAMS The WAC women's crew makes its Windermere Cup race debut this May. Team members are: McKenna Bryant Jenny Park Chiara Ondoli Taylor Buell Sierra Williams Sam Dommer Max Heid Arne Landboe Chase Barrows Stephen Connolly Dan Marconi Ian Engstrom Madison Molitor Max Mannisto George Esau Darcy McCluskey Zach Casler Hans Struzyna