Rio 2016

Rio 2016 venue: Lagoa Stadium (Copacabana Cluster)
Competition dates: Aug. 6-12
Medal events: 14 (8 men’s, 6 women’s)
Olympic introduction: 1900 (Paris, France)

Preview
At the 2016 Olympic Games, the U.S. Olympic Rowing Team is well positioned for podium performances in multiple events. The women’s team continues to dominate the world stage, winning medals across the board at the 2015 World Rowing Championships. The U.S. won its 10th consecutive world title in the women’s eight and historic first gold medal in women’s quadruple sculls, not only qualifying the boats for the Rio Olympics, but continuing the standard for success. Looking ahead to the 2016 Games, the women’s team is deep enough to win a medal in every open-weight event.

Key athletes have returned on the men’s side, including three members of the London 2012 bronze-medal-winning men’s four. Several fresh faces have also joined the scene. All eyes will be on the men’s eight, which qualified for a Rio placement by winning the 2016 Final Olympic Qualification regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland, in May. The crew followed the performance with a bronze medal at 2016 World Rowing Cup II a few days later.

The sport, with all its history and tradition, has seen a dramatic rise in popularity over the past Olympic cycle as evidenced by the increase of junior and inner-city programs, numbers of athletes competing at events and new events added to the rowing season.

The growth of the sport has undoubtedly added to the depth of the elite athlete pool. Combined with the availability of rowing athletic scholarships and stateside world championships on the horizon – with the 2017 event scheduled to be held in the United States for the first time in 40 years – young people across the country are coming to the sport that has become more accessible than ever before.

Athletes To Watch
Megan Kalmoe 
A female athlete has never won back-to-back USRowing annual awards, until 2015. Kalmoe was voted by her peers as the USRowing Female Athlete of the Year for the second consecutive year, and was also honored with the 2015 Woman of the Year Award. A member of the historic world champion women’s quad that won gold for the first time at the 2015 World Rowing Championships, the St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin, native will be making her third Olympic appearance in Rio.

Eleanor Logan
Making her third straight Olympic appearance in 2016 is two-time Olympic gold medalist Logan. A native of Boothbay Harbor, Maine, she has found success in almost every boat class available to her, from the singles and pair, to the dominant women’s eight. Her athleticism, perseverance and “coachability” make her a strong candidate for any lineup that U.S. head coach Tom Terhaar puts together.

Meghan Musnicki 
A golden girl of the London 2012 women’s eight, Musnicki is a force on the women’s squad. Her humble roots brought her to the sport via St. Lawrence University and Ithaca College, where she delivered the 2015 commencement address. Musnicki is ranked among the top female U.S. Olympic and world championship multiple medalists of all time, with six gold medals to her name in her six years on the U.S. national team.

Henrik Rummel
Following his bronze-medal-winning performance in the men’s four at the 2012 Olympic Games, Rummel is looking for a repeat podium effort in Rio. A quiet leader of the men’s group, Rummel balances his financial career in Princeton, New Jersey, with a strict training regimen of up to three practices each day. A native of Copenhagen, Denmark, he moved to the United States in 2000, and speaks fluent Danish, German French and Swedish. 

Seth Weil
Weil began his career as a club oarsman at the University of California, Davis. Shortly after he joined the USRowing training center group, he made an immediate impression at the 2013 World Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland. Despite it being his first-ever international regatta, his crew led from wire-to-wire and took gold for the U.S. in the event the first time since 2004. Now the 2015 USRowing Male Athlete of the Year is set to make his first Olympic appearance with a solid shot at the podium in the men’s four. 

Storylines

• When the U.S. women’s eight crossed the finish line at the 2015 World Rowing Championships with nearly open water on the field, it was something special. Building a championship dynasty is one thing, but it’s another to be undefeated on the world stage for 10 consecutive years. Under the direction of head coach Tom Terhaar, the U.S. women’s eight has not lost an Olympic or world championship title since 2006. In just his second year, Terhaar coached the women’s eight to the gold medal at the 2002 World Rowing Championships in Seville, Spain. It was the first gold medal for the U.S. in the women’s eight since 1995. Then, at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, his eight set a world record in the heat and won a silver medal in the final. It was the first time the U.S. had won an Olympic medal in the event since 1984. Over the last 10 years, his crews have won at eight world championships and two Olympic Games (2008, 2012). The American dynasty owns the world record time, set in 2013, and will be seeking its third consecutive Olympic gold medal in Rio.

• After wrapping up a long and distinguished run with the U.S. men’s team that included three Olympic Games, a gold medal in 2004 and bronze in 2008, stroke seat Bryan Volpenhein turned to coaching—first at the Pocock Rowing Center in Seattle and then with the U.S. lightweight men’s group in Oklahoma City. He led the lightweight men’s four to Olympic qualification and an eighth-place finish at the 2012 Olympic Games. He is now overseeing the men’s four, the priority boat for the U.S. that is bound for a return podium performance in Rio. This summer, he married 2012 Olympian and U.S. men’s pair coach Sarah Trowbridge, and the two live and coach together in Princeton, New Jersey.

• When the men’s eight fell short of qualifying at the 2015 World Rowing Championships, former national team member turned U.S. men’s team coach Luke McGee had his work cut out for him. The men’s training center group was expanded to include qualified athletes that had participated in other boat classes in international competition to select the strongest, fastest, eight rowers in the country to race and finish in the top two at the Final Qualification Regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland. The newly formed crew, four of whom rowed at the University of Washington where the storied gold-medal-winning eight of 1936 hailed from, got the job done in Lucerne and are now looking to return the men’s eight to the podium for the first time since the 2008 bronze-medal performance. Flashback to 2012 and the U.S. men’s eight was in a similar position. The team not only qualified the boat in Lucerne, but went on to finish 0.3 of a second from the bronze medal in London.

• The coxswain (pronounced cox-in) of a crew has a unique and interesting role. Small in stature, but big in personality, this teammate, coach, motivator and drive can make or break a race. At 5-4 and 110 pounds, Katelin Snyder is the woman for the job and is looking to fill a big pair of shoes. As coxswain of the indomitable U.S. women’s eight, she will follow in the footsteps of three-time Olympic medalist Mary Whipple, who retired after the London Olympics. The Detroit native, who is engaged to U.S. men’s team rower Nareg Guregian, developed her coxing skills as a member of the men’s team at the University of Washington.

• After being eliminated from selection for both the eight and four, the last chance for Nareg Guregian to join his fiancé, Katelin Snyder, at the 2016 Olympics was at the 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials II – Rowing in the pair competition. Guregian and rookie Anders Weiss teamed to defeat a fast and determined field of 10 other seasoned national and international racers to earn their place in Rio. At the moment of qualification, Snyder was on the water training with the women’s eight, but got the call from her future husband that he would be joining her in Rio.

• Gevvie Stone is the top single sculler in the United States, and among the fastest in the world. Between her daily training sessions on the water, you can find Dr. Stone in her white lab coat, doing research and making hospital rounds. The Newton, Massachusetts, native took time away from rowing after representing the U.S. at the London Olympics to pursue her Ph.D. Now she’s back, and after a phenomenal fourth-place finish at the world championships, has her sights set on the podium in Rio. Her alma mater, Princeton University, has sent at least one rower to every Olympics since 1952. In total, Princeton has helped produce 55 Olympians in 17 Games. From 1964 to 2008, Princeton rowers have won 17 Olympic medals, including 14 for Team USA.

• The USRowing Training Center, based in Princeton, New Jersey, is a central hub of athletes hoping to earn their spot on the U.S. Olympic Team. Helping making it all possible is a community of families that act as temporary hosts for U.S. national team athletes. Several athletes have become like a son or daughter to these host-families, who provide daily support and encouragement, celebrate birthdays and holidays and even organize team breakfasts.