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Of course, one part of defining success is medal count. The U.S. came away with two medals from Rio, with one coming from a USRowing training center boat (the women’s eight), and one from a non-training center boat (Gevvie Stone in the women’s single). Needless to say, these results fell short of expectations. The High Performance Report sets new ones for 2020: three medals from training center boats (men’s and women’s combined), and one from a non-training center boat. These are based on past experience, as well as an understanding of the international playing field in elite rowing at this time.

“Not that it’s unrealistic to want to expect higher [medal counts],” explains 2016 Olympian, former interim USRowing board chair, and task force member Meghan O’Leary, “but given our history, as well as the results that other countries have had, we are trying to take a very realistic approach and then of course building from there.”

But the document goes well beyond the numbers. It also looks to redefine key roles within USRowing’s administration, more clearly outlining those of CEO and high-performance director, as well as recommending that USRowing move away from the dual head coach system for the men’s team. The report also aims to redefine the criteria for high-performance committee membership. In general, the theme appears to be a much more hands-on approach.

“I think that the task force’s goal [for the high-performance director] was to make sure that the role was clearly defined,” O’Leary says. “The position is one that the USOC strongly encourages every national governing body to have, and [creating a new position] was part of our falling in line with that, along with the growth of the national team infrastructure. Now this is taking it another step forward, saying let’s make sure to clearly define the needs and the role for a high-performance director within our program.” While Curtis Jordan filled the role over the past four years, O’Leary says she feels the role was not as thoroughly outlined as it will be going forward.

“We’re making sure that we’re clearly defining—based on our expectations for medals, prioritization of boats, our system of inside and outside the training center—the high-performance director’s role. Like any evolution of any job description, or just growth, you live and learn a little bit and you can then say OK, these are the areas we really want to focus on, and these are this person’s responsibilities.”

Two more major focuses of the document cover coach and athlete development and retention, a top priority for USRowing building toward the next Olympic Games. First up will be finding a replacement for U.S. men’s coach Luke McGee, who recently announced that he would be stepping down from his role with the national team. Regarding the athletes, the task force recommends that more investment be made in the under-23 system to “diminish the financial obstacles” to participation. The under-23 system is seen as key cog in preparing the next generation of Olympians for the elite level.

Also recommended is a reshuffling of boat classes and priority boats in the form of a four-tiered structure, with Group I made up of training center medal targets (here defined as the women’s eight, men’s eight, women’s four, and women’s pair); Group II as training center development (for 2017, defined as the women’s quad, men’s four, and men’s pair); Group III as high-performance club medal targets (women’s double, men’s and women’s lightweight double); and Group IV as club development boats (men’s and women’s single, men’s double and quad).

Athlete support and external funding are further features of the report, not just in terms of direct athlete support, but also physical therapy and nutrition. This touches on the significant financial implications of achieving the goals outlined within the recommendations, as well as a search for sponsorship that has long been a feature of USRowing’s strategy for sustainability and growth.

“The task force recommended a lot of great things,” O’Leary says, “but a lot of them have a big dollar sign next to them, and we can’t do them all at once. As our budget continues to improve we can increase the national team budget, we can continue to peck away at the recommendations, but we’re acting responsibly in terms of implementing them.”

She continues: “Increased sponsorship is a priority for any national governing body. And that’s an area where USRowing will always want and need to continue to grow, not only to grow the sport, but also to better support our national team and our membership. I think what a lot of members don’t realize at times is that any sponsor that comes to USRowing, the money actually goes into membership—the national team athletes aren’t the only ones receiving benefit. So of course, it’s our goal to grow revenue and sponsorship has a direct impact that way.”

While there are many challenges facing USRowing with a view toward Tokyo, the hope is that by outlining a path to achieving success at this early stage, administrators, coaches, and athletes will have a race plan going forward.

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World Cup 1 Belgrade  A host high-profile retirements, together with a number of big names pressing the pause button, means anything can happen at the first World Rowing Cup of this post-Olympic year. Whatever the outcome, it’s nice to have international rowing back. 
www.worldrowing.com

May 6

New England Rowing ChampionshipS  A springtime Mecca for collegiate sprint racing, historic Lake Quinsigamond hosts the 2017 New England Rowing Championships, a regional season-ender for qualifying colleges from the six New England States. Held annually since 1961, the regatta attracts more than 1,200 athletes competing in 14 events for men and women.  
www.qra.org

May 6

Windermere Cup/Opening Day Regatta  It’s hard to believe, but the annual celebration to mark the opening day of boating season in Seattle turns 30 this year. Hosted by the University of Washington and Windermere Real Estate, the prestigious invitational on Montlake Cut attracts upwards of 800 rowers and culminates with the men’s and women’s Windermere Cup eight contests. 
Email: kellersw@uw.edu

May 6

Long Island Junior Rowing Championships  They’re starting them young on Long Island. This year’s Long Island Junior Rowing Championships, hosted by Sagamore Rowing and held at Oyster Bay’s Center Island Beach, features the addition of “modified” events for 6th, 7th, and 8th graders. 
www.sagamorerowing.org

May 6-7

Indianapolis Junior Sculling Championships and Sprints  Indianapolis Rowing Center hosts this two-day junior regatta. The action begins May 6 with the first-ever Indianapolis Junior Sculling Championships, held on the iconic Eagle Creek Reservoir. A sweep-only version is held the following day at the same venue.
www.irc21.wildapricot.org

May 12-13

Dad Vail Regatta  Named after legendary Wisconsin coach Harry Emerson “Dad” Vail, the annual Dad Vail Regatta is the largest collegiate rowing event in the United States, with more than 100 crews from across North America vying for Vails glory on Philadelphia’s Schuylkill River. 
www.dadvail.org

May 13

Jack Nicholson Head of the Martindale  It’s a fitting tribute to the man who made it happen. Now bearing the name of the legendary Canadian sculling coach, who passed away in late 2014, the annual scullers-only race around St. Catharines’ Henley Island wouldn’t have been possible without Jack Nicholson’s unwavering commitment to nurturing sculling talent in Canada.  
Email: nstorrs@yahoo.com

May 14

Eastern Sprints 
Last year, Yale ran away with both the lightweight and heavyweight eights titles in Worcester, the first such sweep for the Elis since 1979. But the Princeton Tigers displayed the greatest overall depth to take the Rowe Cup for team points. One year later, will the momentum hold for the East’s most dominant men’s programs? 
www.qra.org

May 19-20

Stotesbury Cup Regatta  Founded in 1927 by Philadelphia philanthropist Edward T. Stotesbury, who originally intended it as a local cup race, the annual Stotesbury Cup Regatta has grown into the biggest and arguably best high school regatta in the nation. More than 5,000 competitors and twice as many spectators are expected to attend the two-day fixture on the Schuylkill. 
www.stotesburycupregatta.com

May 20

Gold Rush Masters Regatta  Rowers at the Gold Rush Masters Regatta, held on beautiful Lake Natoma in Sacramento, California, will “go for the gold, just as the miners did in 1849.” The one big difference: Back then there weren’t any fully buoyed 1,000-meter courses. The masters-only event, hosted by Sacramento State Aquatic Center, features events across all boat classes. 
Email: dbirch@csus.edu

May 20

Row the Rockies 
Rocky Mountain Rowing Club welcomes junior, open, masters, and adaptive athletes to Denver’s Cherry Creek Reservoir for a high-altitude, high-intensity day of finals-only sprint racing. The event features all classes of sweep and sculling boats.
Email: mike@shonstromresearch.com

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• Tom Aggar (GBR)
• Caryn Davies (USA)
• Katherine Grainger (GBR)
• Eleanor Logan (USA)
• Greg Searle (GBR)
• Andrew T Hodge (GBR)

Created in 1990, the Thomas Keller Medal celebrates athletes who have had an outstanding career in rowing. It honours those who have shown exemplary sportsmanship and technical mastery of the sport as well as having shown a legendary aspect both in and outside of their rowing career.
Finalists Bios
Tom Aggar – Great Britain
Aggar is a legend of para-rowing. He first raced internationally in 2007 and instantly found success, beginning a winning streak that lasted for the next four years. This included Aggar winning gold in the para men’s single sculls at the 2008 Paralympic Games. This was the debut Games for para-rowing. Aggar continued through to the London 2012 Paralympic Games, but missed out on a medal. He persisted and came back to take bronze the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games before retiring.
Caryn Davies – United States
Davies is described as the epitome of the scholar-athlete. Having earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Harvard University in 2005 and a Doctor of Law degree from Columbia University in 2013, she also was twice Olympic Champion and a four-time World Champion between 2002 and 2012. She has stroked the USA women’s eight repeatedly since its winning streak began in 2006 and helped the boat set two World Best Times. Davies then went on to do an MBA at Oxford University in Great Britain and during that time she stroked the women’s Oxford boat to victory in the 2015 Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race.
Katherine Grainger – Great Britain
Grainger is Great Britain’s most decorated female Olympian with five Olympic medals including gold from the London 2012 Olympic Games. These medals show Grainger’s all-round brilliance and longevity in the sport having won Olympic medals in the women’s quadruple sculls, pair and double sculls. Grainger also has won eight medals at the World Rowing Championships. Off the water Grainger achieved a PhD in law and, now retired, stays actively involved in rowing.
Eleanor Logan – United States
Logan became the United States’ greatest Olympic women’s rower after winning her third consecutive Olympic gold at the Rio 2016 Olympics. These medals all came from being part of the formidable US women’s eight. But Logan has also competed in other boats including the women’s single, pair and four at World Championship level.
Greg Searle – Great Britain
Between 1990 and 2000 Searle raced at three Olympic Games and at seven World Rowing Championships. During this time he won Olympic gold in 1992 and Olympic silver in 1996 as well as five World Championship medals in a variety of sweep boat classes, from the eight to the four to the coxed pair, as well as in one sculling event, the men’s single sculls. Following a fourth-place finish in the men’s pair at the Sydney Games, Searle retired from the sport for nine years, only to come back and compete at the highest level of competition in his late thirties. He finished his rowing career by medalling at the London 2012 Olympic Games, 20 years after competing at his first Olympic Games in 1992.
Andrew T Hodge – Great Britain
A three-time Olympic Champion, Hodge has been a mainstay among Great Britain’s elite squad for 15 years. This was despite a bout of illness that saw Hodge having to fight to get back into his country’s top boats in 2016. He managed to swap successfully between the men’s eight, four and pair during his career which ended with gold in the men’s eight at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
The winner will be announced on 29 June 2017 and awarded at the 2017 World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne, Switzerland on Saturday evening, 8 July 2017. During the award ceremony, an 18-carat gold medal will be bestowed by Dominik Keller, the son of FISA’s former president Thomas Keller, to the winner.
For a full list of winners, please click here. http://www.worldrowing.com/athletes/thomas-keller-medal

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