In recent decades, the performance of US Rowing on the international stage has been gradually deteriorating. This simple fact has been getting increasingly obvious with each passing Olympic cycle, culminating in the US National Team’s getting shut out for any medals in the 2020 Games despite the best efforts of the athletes. While it is tempting to place the blame on the coaches of the US Olympic squad or just to write it off as an unanimously difficult cycle, the issues surrounding these results are more tectonic. To be specific, there is a case for one of the causes of these issues to be found in the culture of rowing at the American colleges. The fact that there is the tendency of US collegiate coaches to recruit and to give more attention to international athletes means that there is often a lack of domestic talent. But as with all things, this has its benefits and its costs, both of which will be examined here.
Over the course of the past fifteen years, US collegiate coaches have dramatically increased their focus on the recruitment and training of international athletes and have largely achieved incredible successes as a result. Since the practice became more widespread in the early 2000s, the number of internationally recruited athletes in crews that have medalled at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association Championships has steadily increased, while the number of domestically educated rowers has decreased at the same rate. This trend is clearly shown by the following graph created by Eric Rowan of Trinity College Rowing:
As another example, thirty four of fifty seven athletes on the Yale Men’s rowing roster (arguably the best collegiate team in the US) for the 2019-20 year were internationally recruited with previous international rowing experience.
Generally, this practice is clearly beneficial to all involved. It offers the internationally recruited athletes the opportunities to travel abroad, receive an excellent education, and practice their sport in an intensely competitive environment. The addition of the foreign athletes gives US rowers increased competition. The highest performing domestic athletes will earn seats and theoretically enhance their abilities as a whole, while the coaches and programs benefit from winning national titles more efficiently than ever before. And, of course, all institutions benefit substantially by diversifying their population with foreign perspectives and cultures.
So, if this process is so enriching, where is the issue? The problems arise once the international athletes graduate from their respective programs and mostly return to their home countries with all their rowing experience and intentions to carry on competing internationally. This exodus leaves the US National Team with a relatively small pool of highly skilled domestic rowers who have extensive international experience and at the moment, there is seemingly little incentive to alter this status quo. The coaches and universities are sated with the performance of their own programs; they have no reason to care about the country’s performance on the international stage, other than vague sentimentality, a feeling which is not always the best motivator.
There are several possible solutions to this looming issue for US Rowing. The most sensible ones, though, are for collegiate programs either (1) to limit slightly the number of foreign rowers whom they recruit (perhaps cap the amount of international rowers at 60% of the roster) or (2) to expand their roster sizes, so these bastions of American rowing can include more domestic athletes, say, even walk-ons, should the program have the resources. These changes would permit the foreign athletes to continue as valued parts of US collegiate rowing, and also reinvigorate the US Olympic rowing program with a wider selection of domestic athletes. A transition of this nature is possible, as demonstrated by the University of Washington’s second place finishing eight in the 2018 IRA’s. In recent years the Husky’s men’s team has begun to transition to using more domestic talent while still maintaining their position as arguably one the best programs in the US.
International student-athletes are of course always welcome in US collegiate athletics, as they elevate all programs by virtue of their talent and experience. Crucially, however, coaches of these US programs must reevaluate their methods and enact mild reforms, if the US is to see any Olympic success in 2024 or beyond. The effects of this current process have already exposed themselves on the world stage, and change must occur promptly to avoid their replication.
Sources Cited:
2019-20 Men’s Crew (Heavyweight) Roster – Yale University (yalebulldogs.com)
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