A shakeup was inevitable and it came Thursday. Head coach Martin McElroy is leaving the Canadian men鈥檚 heavyweight team and head coach John Keogh is leaving the women鈥檚 heavyweight program, the latter to coach in his native Australia. Both contracts expire at the end of this month.
Because of its pre-Rio Olympic medal success, rowing is the most heavily funded Canadian summer sport. It received $17 million from Own the Podium in the quadrennial from London 2012 to Rio 2016. For that money, more medals were expected.
鈥淭his [coaching changes] is the right thing,鈥� said Adam Kreek of Victoria, an Olympic gold-medallist rower from Beijing in 2008.
鈥淭he program needs to be stripped down and rebuilt. It needs a serious review. We [former Canuck rowers] built a strong legacy and hoped it would in turn leave a legacy . . . but our legacy has been [squandered]. Our success in Beijing freed up a ton of money for the Canadian rowing program. Now that funding will be lost.鈥�
The national men鈥檚 heavyweight team, along with Jennerich and Obee, train at Elk Lake and the women鈥檚 heavyweight team in London, Ont.
McElroy came to Elk Lake after achieving some good results with the British rowing team. He replaced the legendary Mike Spracklen, after the latter was controversially let go as Canadian men鈥檚 coach following the 2012 London Olympics.
The results, however, just haven鈥檛 been there for sa国际传媒 over the last quadrennial.
鈥淎fter 31脷2 intense and challenging years as performance director of the men鈥檚 heavyweight program in Victoria, it鈥檚 time for someone else to pick up the challenge, said McElroy, in a statement.
鈥淎fter a turbulent transition post-London, we made progress, but there is still more to be done. Sometimes it takes someone new and a new approach to renew the energy in the fight. I am OK with that. I made my contribution.鈥�
Rowing sa国际传媒 did not give a timeline regarding the naming of coaching replacements. A rising coaching star within the program is Tom Morris, who guided Jennerich and Obee to their lightweight double Olympic silver medal in Rio last month.
鈥淚 really hope the heavyweight men and women get to have the opportunity and experience I had this past year working with Tom Morris,鈥� said Obee.
Kevin Light of Victoria, a two-time Olympic rower under Spracklen, and gold medallist with the Canadian eight at Beijing in 2008, said many Canadian alumni rowers felt their feedback was shut out from the process during the last quadrennial. He added all coaching options should be considered, including bringing Spracklen back, or at least people associated with him.
鈥淲hat needed to be done has already started,鈥� said Light, of Thursday鈥檚 coaching moves.
Ironically, Spracklen will be back in town next month when he is inducted into the Victoria Sports Hall of Fame. He coached the Canadian men鈥檚 eight to Olympic gold medals at Barcelona in 1992 and Beijing in 2008 and silver at London in 2012, and also the Canadian four to silver at Athens in 2004, and Silken Laumann to her famous back-from-the-brink bronze at Barcelona.
鈥淎 lot of great things were accomplished on Elk Lake [under Spracklen] and we should take advantage of those people and tap into that legacy by inviting them back into the fold in a useful manner,鈥� said Light.
Light noted that Spracklen-coached Olympic medallists such as Ben Rutledge, Barney Williams and Kyle Hamilton now all have coaching backgrounds, and that particular input could prove invaluable to Rowing sa国际传媒 as it looks to the future.
鈥淲hy not give the younger coaches a chance?鈥� said Kreek.
鈥淟et鈥檚 figure this out and try to build another dynasty. Let鈥檚 get back to the basics and what really worked in our success 鈥� which was hard, hard work on Elk Lake every day.鈥�
Rowing has won the second-most gold medals for sa国际传媒 in the Summer Olympics with nine, behind only track and field鈥檚 14. Rowing has accumulated the third-most total medals for sa国际传媒 in the Summer Olympics with 41, trailing only track and field鈥檚 60 and swimming鈥檚 49.
Rowing sa国际传媒鈥檚 new coaches, when hired, will be handed the daunting task of returning sa国际传媒 to its former level of rowing prominence at Tokyo 2020. But they may have to accomplish that with funding deeply slashed because of the lack of success at Rio 2016.
