Victoria rowers Lindsay Jennerich and Patricia Obee reached the Olympic and World Championship podiums their way, but their Silver medal in the women’s lightweight double skulls at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro was years in the making.
It all came from humble beginnings. “I came out of the Victoria City Rowing Club to University of Victoria rowing all out of the same boathouse,” Lindsay said. “Elk Lake and that boathouse have been a huge part of my life. I hope I made everybody at the boathouse really proud. I must thank them so much. To have two rowers from the same city and same boathouse on the Olympic podium together is really special and unique.”
An experienced National Team rower, Lindsay had already won World Championship medals with different partners in lightweight double skulls, as well as two World Championships Gold medals in the non-Olympic lightweight single skulls before partnering with Patricia in 2011.
Patricia began rowing in 2009 at the Victoria City Rowing Club and, in 2010, she was selected to the Women’s Eight - Bronze medallists in the Under 23 World Championships. Patricia won World Bronze in the lightweight single skulls in 2011, then moved into lightweight double skulls with Lindsay.
The newly-minted duo won a promising Silver medal at the 2011 World Championships, but failed to make the final at the London 2012 Olympics, winning the B Final to finish seventh overall. Their resolute comeback on the road to Rio took them to the World Championship podium again with a Silver medal in 2014. After narrowly missing the World Championship podium in 2015 with a fourth place finish, Lindsay and Patricia won Gold at the second World Cup stop of 2016 in Lucerne. It was their first World Cup victory together.
Lindsay, who rowed from the bow seat and was the quarterback of the duo, said that every time she asked Patricia to empty her tank, her partner did on courses on rivers, inlets and lakes around the world. Never was that more important than in Rio where, in fifth place at the half-way point of the 2,000-metre final, they put on their patented steely late push to rally for the Silver medal.
The tenacious duo had earned the nickname the Dirty Double, based on their tough and uncompromising style. “We had unwavering belief in ourselves. It was like validation. We were small women, but we knew what we wanted,” Lindsay said. “We were fully committed to each other.”
“It definitely always stays with you and informs who you are. It will always be a part of me,” Patricia said of her rowing career. “I’m very proud to be from Victoria and to be entering my hometown Sports Hall of Fame.”
According to Lindsay, that medal day in Rio was familiar and fitting: “It was gray and raining and we looked at each other and said: ‘Victoria is here with us.’”
John McRoberts and Stacie Louttit |
John McRoberts and Stacie Louttit |
Like many sailing stories, John and Stacie’s racing partnership started on a dock. Both athletes had been involved in sport their whole lives and a chance meeting in Victoria’s Inner Harbour brought together one of Canada’s most successful sailing teams: John McRoberts and Stacie Louttit.
Stacie learned to sail on Lake Superior in her youth; however, her first love was downhill skiing. In 1994 she broke her back in a skiing accident at Whistler Blackcomb and was left a walking paraplegic. Looking for a new sport and challenge, she met John and was encouraged to take up sailboat racing through the BC Disabled Sailing Association in Victoria.
John grew up in a sporting family, so when he became quadriplegic at age 18 after diving into shallow water in Lake Erie, he was always searching for new possibilities. He’d learned to sail as a youth and competed as a road racer and in wheelchair rugby before finding sailing again in the 1990s. He was immediately entranced; this was a sport in which he could be fully competitive, once away from the dock, just like any other sailor. “There’s true freedom on the water,” says John.
John progressed quickly in the sport and was already an experienced sailor when he met Stacie, having won silver at the 1996 Atlanta Games when paralympic sailing made its debut as a demonstration sport.
In 2006, John asked Stacie if she would team up with him to compete for the opportunity to qualify for a place on Canada’s Paralympic Sailing team ahead of the 2008 Summer Games, racing the new Skud18, a two-person high performance keelboat. Stacie’s job was to trim the sails - main, jib and spinnaker - with John as skipper at the helm. With the support of her young family, Stacie took a leave of absence from her work to train and travel. This dedication paid off when the team was awarded national team carding in 2007 and qualified for Beijing in 2008.
With the Games in sight, Stacie and John’s Paralympic campaign – christened “TeamUCan 2” – began to ramp up. Working with coach Stephen McBride from the Royal Victoria Yacht Club, they sailed to a 3rd place finish at the 2008 Miami Olympic Classes Regatta and placed 4th at the 2008 Qingdao International Regatta Test Event. They were fully dedicated to achieving success in Qingdao during the Games, and after five days of testing conditions and tight competition, their training and teamwork paid off as they brought home the Bronze medal! John and Stacie went on to qualify for London 2012, where they won Silver in the Skud18 test event and placed 4th at the Paralympics.
Standing on the podium at Beijing 2008, Stacie made history as the first Canadian female sailor to medal at an Olympic/Paralympic Games. John made a well-deserved addition to his medal collection and TeamUCan2 had achieved their goal of representing Canada with talent and pride.
SPONSORED BY PACIFIC INSTITUTE FOR SPORT EXCELLENCE
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