The 1990s were banner years for the Canadian women's rowing team and Jessica Monroe was right in the middle of that success. The Victoria High grad, born in Palo Alto, California and living in North Vancouver, honed her rowing strokes at False Creek and University of Victoria clubs before solidifying her place on the national squad. In 1991, when the Canadian women rowers burst onto the international scene at the World championships, Jessica was on the record setting, gold-medal crews in coxless fours and coxed eights. The fours crew record time of 6 minutes, 25.4 seconds, stood until 2006. That success set up the crews well for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, where she again won double gold in fours and eights. Jessie Monroe-Gonin collected a silver with the eights crew in 1996 in Atlanta to round out her Olympic medal haul. At age 31 she helped Canada's women's eights to a silver medal at the 1997 worlds, marking an impressive finish to her outstanding international rowing career.

Long before his political career, David Anderson learned the value of teamwork, as a rower. Playing rugby first at Vic High, and then at Victoria College, he learned a lot about competition before heading to the University of British Columbia to continue his education. On arriving at UBC, he was quickly recruited to join the powerful Thunderbirds rowing team. Members of the UBC/Vancouver Rowing Club had just put on a stunning performance at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne. In the men's fours race, they won Canada's first-ever rowing gold medal, plus a silver in the eights. David became a member of the Canadian eights crew at the 1959 Pan-American Games in Chicago, and promptly helped them bring home a silver medal. Although that medal effort alone wasn't enough to secure Anderson a seat in the scull for the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, he was sent along as a spare. When Canada was shut out of the medals up to the final days of competition, his friend, Lorne Loomer, was shifted to the men's pair's team. That gave Anderson position #2 in the eights boat, and from there, he helped Canada win its only medal of the Games -- a silver in a tight race with Germany. David's leadership skills prompted the UBC team to name him as their captain.