Brown University students and swimmers Amie Barrow and Zehra Bilgin are headed to Paris to compete in the 2024 Olympic Games, joining a trio of Brown alumni competing in rowing and coaching rugby.
Rising Brown University junior Amie Barrow will be the first woman in history to represent Gambia in a swimming event when she competes in the 100-meter breaststroke at the 2024 Olympic Games. Photo by Nick Dentamaro/Brown University.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — With quadruple citizenship across the United States, United Kingdom, Finland and Gambia, Amie Barrow had a world of options when it came to choosing where to attend college. But the rising junior’s curiosity was piqued by Providence, where she enrolled in Brown University’s Program in Liberal Medical Education.
She’ll start her third year of the program in the fall — but not before heading to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, where she will compete in the 100-meter breaststroke as the first and only woman in history to represent Gambia in swimming.
“It’s really exciting to have the opportunity to do something for the first time — to represent the women and girls of Gambia,” Barrow said. “But it’s a little bit scary at the same time. I don’t think it’s fully hit me that I’m going to the Olympics.”
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Though she’s been swimming at Brown for only two years, Barrow has been competing professionally since she was 8 years old, when she moved to Shorewood, Wisconsin, from her birthplace in the United Kingdom.
A fierce competitor in breaststroke events, her favorite race is the 200-meter, which she set a personal record in — along with the 100-meter — at the Ivy League Championships in February.
“Her Olympic dream is something that was developed at Brown,” said Kate Kovenock, head coach of the Brown women’s swimming and diving team. “As she got better, she realized representing Gambia on the highest stage was something she could really strive towards.”
And she won’t be going alone. At the Paris Games, Barrow will be joined by her fellow Brown swimming teammate Zehra Bilgin, a rising senior who will represent her home country of Turkey in the women’s 4x200-meter freestyle relay.
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Amie Barrow practices in Brown's aquatics center ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Photo by Nick Dentamaro.
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Amie Barrow chats with Athletics staff during a practice in Brown's Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center. Photo by Nick Dentamaro/Brown University.
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Zehra Bilgin will represent Team Turkey in this year's Olympics as a member of the 4x200-meter free relay team. Photo courtesy of Brown Athletics.
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The Brown women's swimming and diving team cheers on Zehra Bilgin after she clinched a win earlier this year. Photo courtesy of Brown Athletics.
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After the Olympic Games, Amie Barrow will visit Gambia before traveling back to Providence to begin her junior year at Brown. Photo by Nick Dentamaro/Brown University.
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Class of 2022 graduates Henry Hollingsworth, third from right, and Gus Rodriguez, far right, will represent Team USA in Paris this summer. Hollingworth will compete in Men's Eight, while Rodriguez was named an alternate. Photo courtesy of Brown Athletics.
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Class of 2008 graduate and rugby star Emilie Bydwell will coach this year's USA women's rugby team in Paris. Photo by Mike Lee/KLC Photos.
“With Zehra, this — making the Turkish Olympic Team — is something we first discussed in our very first conversation back in the summer of 2020,” Kovenock said. “Becoming an Olympian has been something that Zehra has dreamed about and worked toward for over six years.”
Zehra Bilgin celebrates after her events at the Ivy League Championships in February. Photo courtesy of Brown Athletics.
Bilgin, who is pursuing a concentration in chemistry, has shattered multiple records for the Bears. Most recently, she set a program record in the 200-meter butterfly at the Bulldog Invitational at the University of Georgia in March, and she was a member of the 200-, 400- and 800-meter freestyle relay teams that set program records at the Ivy League Championships in February.
“We're so proud of both Zehra and Amie for getting to this stage in our sport,” Kovenock said. “They will forever be Olympians, and it feels amazing to be able to celebrate both individuals and both paths.”
Barrow and Bilgin aren’t the only Brunonians traveling to Paris. Class of 2022 graduates and former crew teammates Henry Hollingsworth and Gus Rodriguez will row for Team USA, with Hollingsworth named to the Men's Eight team and Rodriguez serving as an alternate. And Class of 2008 graduate Emilie Bydwell, who has served as head coach of the United States women's national rugby sevens team since 2021, will lead the team as it attempts to earn its first-ever Olympic medal.
Scholar, athlete, future physician — all at Brown
Undeniably accomplished in the pool, Barrow also excels in the classroom as a student in the Program in Liberal Medical Education, an eight-year program that allows students to combine both their undergraduate and medical school education at Brown.
Barrow is pursuing her undergraduate degree in health and human biology and business economics. When she graduates in 2026, she will begin her medical education at the Warren Alpert Medical School with an eye toward surgical oncology.
I knew I wanted to be in an environment that was very collaborative, and that’s exactly what I’ve gotten [at Brown], both in and out of the pool. All my teammates are my best friends, and genuinely, all of the people I’ve met here are just incredible.
Amie Barrow
2024 Olympic swimmer
Barrow said that having the autonomy to explore each of those disciplines while maintaining her swimming career has solidified her belief that Brown is the right fit for her, academically and athletically. The Open Curriculum — and the Katherine Moran Coleman Aquatics Center — are two of her favorite things on campus. But above all, it’s the people and the community.
“I knew I wanted to be in an environment that was very collaborative, and that’s exactly what I’ve gotten here, both in and out of the pool,” Barrow said. “All my teammates are my best friends, and genuinely, all of the people I’ve met here are just incredible.”
She’s excited to dive back into academics, but not before making a stop in the country she’s representing. After the games wrap up in Paris, Barrow will fly directly to Gambia for her first visit since she was a child.
“The past couple of years that I’ve been racing for Gambia have brought me a little bit closer to my culture, which has been really nice,” Barrow said. “Swimming as a whole isn’t a very diverse sport, and there’s not a ton of opportunity for swimming in Gambia right now… Hopefully, we can get more girls involved, because it is such a great sport.”
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