| Name |
Tyler Winklevoss |
| Height |
6 ft 5 in |
| Naionality |
American |
| Date of Birth |
21-August-1981 |
| Place of Birth |
Southampton, New York, U.S. |
| Famous for |
Rower |
Tyler Winklevoss is an American rower and entrepreneur. He competed in the men's pair rowing event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with his identical twin brother and rowing partner, Cameron Winklevoss. Winklevoss co-founded Harvard Connection (later renamed ConnectU) along with his brother Cameron and a Harvard classmate of theirs, Divya Narendra.
In 2004, the Winklevoss brothers sued Mark Zuckerberg for $140 million, claiming he stole their ConnectU idea to create the popular social networking site Facebook. Winklevoss began rowing at the age of 15, encouraged by family friends and the example of a neighbor, Ethan Ayer, who rowed at Harvard University and Cambridge University. He began rowing at the Saugatuck Rowing Club on the Saugatuck River in 1997. His first coach was Irishman James Mangan who coached him and his brother throughout high school. Winklevoss' high school did not have a crew. In his junior year, he and his identical twin brother, Cameron Winklevoss, co-founded the crew program at their high school. In the summer of 1999, he made the United States Junior National Rowing Team, competing in the coxed pair event with his brother at the Junior World Rowing Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. Tyler's rowing discipline is sweep rowing. He lists Italian cyclist Mario Cipollini and Italian rowers the Abbagnale brothers (Agostino Abbagnale and Giuseppe Abbagnale) as the most influential people in his sporting career. In 2008, Winklevoss was named to the United States Olympic Team and competed at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China.
He rowed with his brother in the men's coxless pair event which took place at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park. The brothers were coached by the renowned Ted Nash. In their first heat, they failed to finish in the top three and did not qualify for the Semifinals. In the Repechage (a last chance to make the Semifinals), they took first, advancing them to the Semifinals. A strong finish in Semifinal 2 put them in the Final. They ended up finishing sixth out of the fourteen countries which had qualified for the Olympics.
