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.’”