STANFORD, Calif. – Stanford lightweight rowing has named Olivia Farrar as assistant coach, as announced by the program on Tuesday.
“I am thrilled to welcome Liv to the Farm,” said associate head coach Lizzy Houston. “She brings extensive experience racing at the Under-23 World Championships, along with a strong career with the Radcliffe lightweights. Liv's work ethic, love of rowing, and expertise in lightweight rowing make her an exceptional addition to our staff, and I look forward to working closely with her as we push for the podium.”
Farrar rowed two seasons at Harvard with the Radcliffe lightweights in 2018 and 2019, and she sat in the stroke seat during her sophomore campaign, where she was a CRCA National Scholar-Athlete and All-Academic selection. The 2020 and 2021 seasons were canceled due to the global pandemic, and she rowed for Oxford University Women’s Boat Club from 2021-22, racing in the 2022 Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race for Osiris.
In four consecutive summers from 2016-19, Farrar raced for the United States under-23 national team, competing at two World Championships in the lightweight women’s 2x and two in the lightweight women’s 4x, winning a bronze medal in 2019 in Sarasota, Florida. She also claimed a gold medal in the lightweight women’s 4+ at the 2018 Head of the Charles regatta in Boston.
Since 2022, Farrar has raced in coastal rowing regattas, including long-distance races at the 20-mile Blackburn Challenge and 23k Open Water Rowing’s Endurance Course, and at the 2022, 2023, and 2024 World Rowing Coastal Championships, securing fourth place in 2022 in the women’s coxed 4x+ in Wales. Additionally, Farrar holds two gold medals and one bronze from the Copa Americas Cup I, in Lima, Peru, and one gold in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil at the 2024 Campeonato Brasilerio de Beach Sprint.
Farrar is a former lead trainer at Power Rowing in Brookline, Massachusetts (2025-2026), coached masters rowing for Genesee Rowing Club (2016-2017), and was a volunteer learn-to-row coach at Pittsford Crew. She has helped to organize coastal rowing regattas in Cape Cod, including the 2025 New Bedford Beach Sprints and the 2025 Cape Cod Beach Sprints Regatta, and led beach sprint clinics.
Outside of rowing, Farrar is a journalist and freelance reporter, and she has written for Harvard Magazine and edited scripts for Audible.
Farrar is a 2021 graduate of Harvard with a degree in English language and literature, and she earned her Master of Philosophy from Oxford in 2022.