Robert Douglas Espeseth Jr. (born October 25, 1953) an American former competitive rower and

Olympic medal An Olympic medal is awarded to successful competitors at one of the Olympic Games. There are three classes of medal to be won: gold, silver, and bronze, awarded to first, second, and third place, respectively. The granting of awards is laid o ...

winner. He was born in

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Olympics

Espeseth was a participant in the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 P ...

and an alternate on the US rowing team for the 1980 Summer Olympics but did not compete due to the U.S. Olympic Committee's boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Russia. He was one of 461 athletes to receive a

Congressional Gold Medal The Congressional Gold Medal is an award bestowed by the United States Congress. It is Congress's highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements and contributions by individuals or institutions. The congressional pract ...

many years later. Espeseth and teammates Douglas Herland and Kevin Still won the bronze medal in the Men's Pair with

coxswain The coxswain ( , or ) is the person in charge of a boat, particularly its navigation and steering. The etymology of the word gives a literal meaning of "boat servant" since it comes from ''cock'', referring to the cockboat, a type of ship's boa ...

(2+) event with a time of 7:12.81 at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the sec ...

World championship

At the 1986 World Championships in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, he placed first in the coxless 4 (4-) boat and took third place the following year in the same event in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

. He was considered one of the favorites to win the coxed pair in the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

with partner

Daniel Lyons Daniel Lyons (born 1960) is an American writer. He was a senior editor at ''Forbes'' magazine and a writer at ''Newsweek'' before becoming editor of ReadWrite. In March 2013 he left ''ReadWrite'' to accept a position at HubSpot. Lyons is the aut ...

, but became sick and was unable to compete.

Halls of fame

University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United Stat ...

alumnus, Espeseth is a member of the UW Athletic Hall of Fame, UW Rowing Hall of Fame, and the US Rowing Hall of Fame. , Espeseth is currently the coach of the

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UT-Chattanooga, UTC, or Chattanooga) is a public university in Chattanooga, Tennessee, United States. It was founded in 1886 and is one of four universities and two other affiliated institutions in the ...

Rowing Mocs.

Coaching positions

* Crew Coach (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga) (1989?–present) * Coordinator of Club Sports (University of Tennessee at Chattanooga)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Espeseth, Robert 1953 births Living people Rowers at the 1984 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for the United States in rowing American male rowers Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics World Rowing Championships medalists for the United States Congressional Gold Medal recipients