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 Provinces and territories of Canada, 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 Hig ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

, 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 university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

. 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 College rowing (United States), intercollegiate rowing between Varsity team, varsity men's heavyweight, men's lightweight, and women's lightweight rowing programs across the United States, whil ...

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 ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

, 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 and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

, 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, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

in Sydney). In 1999, Wetzel was one of the principal subjects in the ''

Outside Magazine ''Outside'' is a magazine focused on the outdoors. The first issue of the ''Outside'' magazine was published in September 1977. It is published by Outside Inc., a company that also owns various other ventures. History ''Outside'' founders were J ...

'' 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 ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, Italy. At the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

, 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 university, 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 List of oldest un ...

( 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. Business and management classes started at Oxford in 1965 when the Centre of Management Studies, ...

). 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 The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

in the men's eights with Andrew Byrnes, Kyle Hamilton, 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 University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

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 for Canada Olympic rowers for 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