PARIS (NBC 26) — A Neenah native is less than two weeks away from her second Olympic Games.
Maddie Wanamaker, who graduated from Neenah High School in 2013 and the University of Wisconsin in 2017, is a member of the USA rowing team.
- Wanamaker was a part of the USA rowing team in the 2020 Games; no USA rowing teams or athletes medaled in Tokyo.
- She and her teammates brought home a gold medal in the women's four at the 2023 World Rowing Cup II in Italy.
- In February of 2023, Wanamaker was diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome and had a blood clot and one of her ribs surgically removed.
- She said the experience helped her realize how much she loves rowing and wanted to keep pursuing her goals.
Wanamaker represented Team USA in Tokyo as well. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, those Olympics were held primarily behind closed doors, meaning Wanamaker’s parents watched her compete from a bar in Neenah.
This time, they’ll be along for the ride.
“I’m really excited,” Wanamaker told NBC 26 earlier this month before she left for Team USA training camp in Italy. "My family is coming. I’ve got a couple of college friends from Madison coming. To be able to experience it with them, because it’s been a ten-year journey of my career.”
“I started rowing in 2013 so they’ve been with me, supporting me,” Wanamaker added. "I’m really glad that they can kind of share in like the best part. Like, the pinnacle of rowing.”
Her road back wasn’t easy. In February of 2023 Wanamaker awoke to find her arm looked, as she described it, purple and red.
“It was a whirlwind of a morning where I was putting on my clothes to go for a workout and then an hour later I was in the ER talking to a doctor about surgery,” she said.
Doctors discovered a blood clot in her left shoulder; Wanamaker was ultimately diagnosed with thoracic outlet syndrome, a condition that occurs when blood vessels and nerves are compressed.
“Basically from rowing too much and having my arm at a parallel angle, my muscles started to constrict the tunnel where all of my blood vessels and nerves go into my arm,” she explained.
Shortly after, she had the blood clot - and one of her ribs - surgically removed.
“I felt like I was really at the top of my game and had never been better, so to have a setback like that was really jarring,” Wanamaker said. "But I think it made me really appreciate being able to have a functioning body and it made me kind of take a step back and realize how much I did love rowing and how much it was worth to me.”
Just three months later, she was back in the boat. In June of 2023, Wanamaker and her teammates took gold at the World Rowing Cup II in Italy.
Now, she said she feels stronger than before and ready to get Team USA back on the podium in Paris.
“Tokyo was the first time in modern rowing history that the US had zero medals,” Wanamaker explained. "I think if we execute what we want to do and stay together as a boat, I think that medals are definitely on the table for us.”
On July 5, Wanamaker and her teammates left for Team USA’s training camp in Italy. Later this week they will head to Paris for the Olympics.
Olympic rowing begins on July 27; Wanamaker’s first preliminary race in the Women’s Four is on Monday, July 29 at 5:00 a.m. The finals four that event will be held on Saturday, August 3 at 3:50 a.m.
