Carie Graves
| Olympic medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Women's rowing | ||
Competitor for the  United States
| ||
| Gold | 1984 Los Angeles | Women's eights |
| Bronze | 1976 Montreal | Women's eights |
Carie Brand Graves (born June 27, 1953) is an American rower who won medals in the 1976 and 1984 Summer Olympics.
Carie Graves grew up in Wyoming Township near Spring Green, Wisconsin, and she attended River Valley High School.
Her first experience with rowing was as a walk-on when she was a freshman at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1971. Her freshmen team went to the women's national championships. Her first international success came in 1975 when she won a silver medal in the eight-oared shell at the World Championships, as part of what came to be known as the "Red Rose Crew", coached by Harry Parker. She then made the 1976 Olympic team in the eight, adding an Olympic bronze. But she continued to row and made the 1980 Olympic team, rowing on the eight that won the Lucerne Regatta over East Germany.
In 1981 she had the six-oar for the women’s eight that finished second at the World Championships in Munich, but her big moment that year came at the Henley Royal Regatta when she was a member of the winning fours with crew in the first year that women were admitted to the Henley. Graves later became the Radcliffe Crew coach and is now the head coach at the University of Texas at Austin.
In 1976 she was a crew member of the American boat which won the bronze medal in the eights event.
Eight years later she won the gold medal with the American boat in the eights competition.
Family background
Graves was born in Madison, Wisconsin to parents Robert and Dyrele (Derry) Graves. The parents of Robert Graves moved to the Spring Green area in the 1930s from South Dakota so that Ben Graves (Robert's father) could take up a position as the land and farm manager at Taliesin. Robert Graves himself rowed at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Derry Graves, who came from a circus family in Baraboo, Wisconsin, trained as a registered nurse. In the late 1960s, she worked as a nurse at the Badger Army Ammunition Plant, while Robert farmed. Carie has attributed her renowned musculature and work ethic to early days of laboring on the carrie house.