Joe Rantz, UW Class of '37

The story of the University of Washington crew that took gold at the 1936 Olympics is one of the greatest American stories of our sport. If you don't know about it, I highly suggest you read about it here.

On September 10, Joe Rantz, the seven-seat of that eight, passed away in Washington State at the age of 93. The second-to-last surviving member of the crew, Rantz held a distinguished place in UW and American rowing lore. My sympathy and respect goes out to the family of a man who can truly be considered a hero, both in how he came to UW and through his accomplishments in rowing.

Olympic Qualifiers

As promised, here's who qualified what for the Olympics next year in Beijing.

M1x
NZL, CZE, NOR, GBR, GER, SWE, BEL, ARG, SUI, NED, AUS

M2-
AUS, NZL, GBR, FRA, RSA, SRB, POL, USA, GER, CRO, DEN

M2x
SLO,FRA, EST, GBR, BLR, NZL, CRO, AUS, USA, GER, BEL

M4-
NZL, ITA, NED, GBR, SLO, FRA, CZE, USA, GER, IRL, BLR

M4x
POL, FRA, GER, ITA, CZE, UKR, RUS, EST, USA, AUS, CUB

LM2x
DEN, GRE, GBR, AUS, ITA, JPN, HUN, GER, CHN, FRA, AUT

LM4-
GBR, FRA, ITA, CAN, CHN, DEN, AUS, POL, EGY, NED, USA

W1x
BLR, BUL, USA, CZE, CHN, NZL, FRA, POL, SWE

W2-
BLR, GER, ROU, AUS, NZL, CHN, USA, CAN

W2x
CHN, NZL, GBR, ROU, CZE, GER, ITA, USA

LW2x
AUS, FIN, DEN, GER, GRE, CHN, CAN, GBR

M8+
CAN, GER, GBR, USA, RUS, POL, CHN

W4x
GBR, GER, CHN, UKR, CAN, USA, AUS

W8+
USA, ROU, GBR, AUS, GER

The only other opportunity for qualification is in Lucerne next summer, before the Olympics, at the last Olympic Qualification Regatta. The only boats that the US did not qualify this year are all small boats: the M1x, LM2x, and LW2x. Going to a qualification regatta two months before the Games will probably lead to a stressful summer season for the athletes in those boats, and as much as it would be nice to see the US race in all 14 events, they are some of the most competitive events on the Games' program (not that there's such a thing as an "easy" event at the Olympics) . Congratulations to all the crews who qualified at Worlds (as well as to the W4-, M4+, LW1x sculler Jen Goldsack for winning gold, gold, and silver, respectively).

Worlds Medal Count

Here's the medal haul by country at this year's World Champs. I plan on compiling a list of who qualified what for Beijing 2008 tomorrow; that seems like it's going to take a substantial amount of time.

MEDAL COUNT (NON-ADAPTIVE EVENTS)

IOC	GOLD	SILVER	BRONZE	TOTAL
GBR	1	1	7	9
GER	0	6	3	9
AUS	3	0	2	5
ITA	2	3	2	7
NZL	3	2	0	5
USA	3	1	1	5
CAN	2	0	2	4
FRA	0	4	0	4
NED	2	0	2	4
CHN	1	0	2	3
BLR	2	0	0	2
POL	2	0	0	2
DEN	1	0	1	2
ROU	0	1	1	2
SLO	1	0	0	1
CZE	0	1	0	1
SRB	0	1	0	1
FIN	0	1	0	1
GRE	0	1	0	1
BUL	0	1	0	1
EST	0	0	1	1
NOR	0	0	1	1

ADAPTIVE EVENTS

IOC	GOLD	SILVER	BRONZE	TOTAL
BRA	2	0	0	2
GBR	1	1	0	2
AUS	0	2	0	2
POL	0	0	2	2
GER	1	0	0	1
BLR	0	1	0	1
CAN	0	0	1	1
ISR	0	0	1	1

TOTAL MEDALS (INC ADAPTIVE)

IOC	TOTAL
GBR	11
GER	10
AUS	7
ITA	7
NZL	5
USA	5
CAN	4
FRA	4
NED	4
POL	4
BLR	3
CHN	3
BRA	2
DEN	2
ROU	2
BUL	1
CZE	1
FIN	1
GRE	1
EST	1
SLO	1
SRB	1
NOR	1
ISR	1