Jacob Wetzel (born December 26, 1976) is a Canadian

rower Rowing, sometimes called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars are attached to the boat using oarlocks, while paddles are not connected to the boat. Rowing is ...

. He has represented both Canada and the United States at the World Championships and the Olympics. He was born in

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Yellowhead Highway, and has served as th ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dak ...

, Canada.

College years

As a teenager, Wetzel was on the Canadian Junior Cycling team; he only began rowing in the fall of 1997 at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

. His success was immediate and extraordinary. His collegiate boat was undefeated and won the freshman 8 event at the 1998 Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championship (IRA). That summer Wetzel tried out for and made the Canadian National team in the pair event (2-) and finished seventh at the World Championships in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

, Germany. In 1999, 2001, and 2002 he again competed for Berkeley where he was coached by Steve Gladstone, this time in the varsity 8. All three years his boats won the IRA and were de facto national champions. In 1999 and 2001, his boats were undefeated. In 2002, his boat suffered a single loss to the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...

, but beat Washington on several other occasions including the IRA.

International competitions

Internationally, Wetzel competed for the United States team in 1999 (Coxed Four (4+) gold medal at the World Championships in St. Catharines) and in 2000 (7th place with the Quad (4x) at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

in Sydney). In 1999, Wetzel was one of the principal subjects in the '' Outside Magazine'' article "Blood in the Water" on the difficulties and internal competition involved in trying to make a national team boat. After a two-year pause because of a shoulder injury caused by a mountaineering accident, in 2003 Wetzel returned to the international rowing scene and he joined Team Canada. Wetzel made the coxless four (4-) and he won a gold medal at the 2003 world championships in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, Italy. At the 2004 Summer Olympics, Wetzel's boat finished second by inches to Great Britain. In 2005/2006 Wetzel completed an MSc in Financial Economics at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

(

Linacre College Linacre College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the UK whose members comprise approximately 50 fellows and 550 postgraduate students. Linacre is a diverse college in terms of both the international composition of its m ...

Saïd Business School Saïd Business School (Oxford Saïd or SBS) is the business school of the University of Oxford. The School is a provider of management education and is consistently ranked as one of the world's top business schools. Oxford School of Management ...

). He was a member of the victorious Oxford crew in the 2006 Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race. He also won at the 2007 World Championships in Canada's M8+. He won the gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in the men's eights with Andrew Byrnes, Kyle Hamilton, Malcolm Howard,

Adam Kreek Adam Kreek (born 2 December 1980) is an author, executive business coach and Canadian rower. He is a member of the BC Sports Hall of Fame and the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame. After his athletic career, Kreek's work has focused upon executive le ...

, Kevin Light, Ben Rutledge,

Dominic Sieterle Dominic Seiterle (born September 4, 1975) is a Canadian rower born in Montreal, Quebec. He is a 2008 Summer Olympics and World Rowing Championships gold medallist as a member of the 8+. He also won three gold medals at the 2007 World Rowing Cup ...

and cox Brian Price. Wetzel announced his retirement from international rowing at the Beijing Olympics; Wetzel enrolled in the PhD programme in Finance at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks among the top thre ...

in autumn 2008. Wetzel was selected as the most highly decorated rower from the Pac-12 conference when he was selected as its Rower of the Century in 2016. In 2017, he became the first University of California, Berkeley rower alum to be inducted into the Cal Sports Hall of Fame as an individual.

References

External links

Row Canada Bio

Oxford-Cambridge Boat Race Link

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wetzel, Jake 1976 births Olympic gold medalists for Canada Olympic silver medalists for Canada Olympic rowers of Canada Olympic rowers of the United States University of California, Berkeley alumni Rowers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Saskatoon Living people Canadian people of German descent Canadian male rowers Alumni of Linacre College, Oxford Alumni of Saïd Business School Oxford University Boat Club rowers Olympic medalists in rowing Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics World Rowing Championships medalists for the United States World Rowing Championships medalists for Canada