These ETH students are competing in the Olympics
Tartan track instead of therapeutics. Rowing technique instead of control technology. Three students from ETH Zurich are taking part in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. Get to know them in these short portraits.
In brief
- Several athletes with a connection to ETH Zurich are taking part in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris
- Julie Derron (triathlon) and ex-doctoral student Annina Fahr (athletics) are two alumnae on the Swiss Olympic team
- Three ETH students are competing in the Olympic Games: Géraldine Frey (athletics), Scott Bärlocher (rowing) and Jan Stäuble (rowing)
At this time of year, ETH students are usually cramming for their exams or working on their Bachelor's and Master's theses. Scott Bärlocher, Géraldine Frey and Jan Schäuble are not sitting in the library studying, however.
They are in Paris competing for Switzerland in the Olympic Games. There are 128 Swiss athletes in total – including ETH alumna Annina Fahr, who completed her doctoral studies last year. Another alumna is external page Julie Derron, who won the silver medal in triathlon at this year's Olympic Games. In 2023 she completed her master's degree in food science.
Of the students still enrolled at ETH Zurich, Bärlocher, Frey and Schäuble will be taking part in the Games.
Athlete Géraldine Frey
Géraldine Frey feels a bit like she is flying at ETH – although not in her Master's in Pharmaceutical Sciences, but in the external page Airshield project, which enables runners to train without air resistance. The 27-year-old specialises in sprinting and became Swiss champion in the 200 metres in 2022.
Rower Scott Bärlocher
external page Scott Bärlocher from Aargau, who turns 27 this year, is competing in the double sculls rowing discipline. The Swiss-British dual national, who is competing on behalf of Baden Rowing Club in Switzerland, is enrolled in a Bachelor's degree programme in Electrical Engineering and Information Technology at ETH Zurich.
Rower Jan Schäuble
external page Jan Schäuble is a member of the rowing team. The 24-year-old is in Paris taking part in the double sculls along with Raphaël Ahumada from Vaud. Schäuble, from Central Switzerland, already has a few medals hanging on the wall at home — including silver from the 2023 World Championships. Schäuble is studying for a Bachelor's Degree in Chemical Engineering.
ETH Zurich wishes Géraldine Frey, Scott Bärlocher and Jan Schäuble all the best in the Olympic Games! And, of course, in their studies.