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

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 ...

, 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 The Intercollegiate Rowing Association (IRA) governs intercollegiate rowing between varsity men's heavyweight, men's lightweight, and women's lightweight rowing programs across the United States, while the NCAA fulfills this role for women's open ...

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 Stephen C. Gladstone, or Steve Gladstone as he is better known, is one of the premier rowing coaches in the United States. He currently coaches at Yale University. Previously, he coached at the University of California, Berkeley, where he also se ...

, 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 Seat ...

, 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 language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 ...

, 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 The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

( Linacre College/

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 Kyle Hamilton (born March 16, 2001) is an American football safety for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Notre Dame, where he was named a consensus All-American in 2021 before being draft ...

, Malcolm Howard, Adam Kreek, Kevin Light, Ben Rutledge, Dominic Sieterle 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 university, 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 a ...

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