Justin Best won the gold medal as part of the U.S. men’s four rowing team, but he shared that it all goes back to a pop culture origin: the Aaron Sorkin-written, David Fincher-directed “The Social Network,” the fictionalized origin story of Mark Zuckerberg and the beginnings of Facebook.
“So I was in between sports and I was going into my freshman year of high school and I had gotten a concussion in football and I was like, ‘No more football,’” Best told People on Friday at the Olympics Team USA house. “And obviously the Winklevoss twins are portrayed, and they are rowers by nature. And so my parents were like, ‘Hey, Justin has a similar body type to the actor who portrayed them.’”
The Winklevoss twins were portrayed in the film by the since-disgraced Armie Hammer and body double Josh Pence, with Hammer’s face used to digitally replace Pence’s where needed. The Winklevoss twins were classmates of Zuckerberg at Harvard and sued him over a vaguely similar notion to what Zuckerberg built with Facebook — and they’re also shown in the film rowing crew.
The real-life Winklevoss twins even went on to compete together in 2008 Olympics, rowing in the men’s coxless pair competition, but failed to bring home a medal.
“So [my parents] Googled rowing clubs and signed me up for Learn to Row in northern Delaware and Wilmington, called Newport Rowing Club,” Best said. “And got my first week with rowing camp.”
It was a natural fit. “I loved it and haven’t looked back,” Best added.
The film starred Jesse Eisenberg as Zuckerberg and Andrew Garfield as his friend and Facebook cofounder Eduardo Saverin.
The gold medal Best helped win was the U.S.’s first in the event in more than 60 years. Best won gold alongside Liam Corrigan, Michael Grady and Nick Mead.
The men’s rowers also credited famed Philadelphia Eagles star Jason Kelce (brother of Taylor Swift beau Travis Kelce) and a 2018 Super Bowl victory parade speech that he delivered, which included Kelce talking about the team’s background as “a bunch of underdogs.”
“You know what an underdog is? It’s a hungry dog,” Kelce said, later adding, “Bottom line is, we wanted it more. … Everybody wanted it more. And that’s why we’re up here today.”
Watch the full speech here (you’ll want to see it for Jason Kelce’s outfit if nothing else):
Best told People that they listened to the speech before racing on July 28, which was the event that qualified them to compete Aug. 1 in the final.
“I was at the speech when it happened … I was right in front of the Art Museum and that resonated with me because that team was not supposed to win,” Pennsylvania native Best said. “Tom Brady was supposed to win with the big bad [New England] Patriots.”
You can watch an official U.S. Rowing profile of Best right here:
And you can view this year’s Olympic events streaming on Peacock and other NBCUniversal channels.
