Jake Wetzel, who quit Canada's rowing team and won a world championship gold medal while competing for the United States, has been welcomed back with open arms.
It's a unique situation.
"He's an outstanding athlete," head coach Brian Richardson said. "Jake has come back and worked very hard, and that's what you have to do to earn the respect of the other members of the team."
Wetzel is in the Canadian heavyweight four that will leave this weekend for the Henley Royal Regatta in England, then a World Cup regatta in Switzerland.
Wetzel, 26, has dual Canadian-U.S. citizenship because his father is American. Both parents are professors at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, where Wetzel grew up.
A competitive cyclist in his teens, he moved to Victoria in 1995 to train for a spot on the national cycling team. It was there that he enrolled in a learn-to-row program and got interested in the sport. In the fall of 1997, he moved south to attend the University of California at Berkeley, where he was in eight-oared crews that won four U.S. collegiate titles.
Initially, he returned north for summers at Rowing Canada's camp at Elk Lake in Victoria. He represented Canada at the 1998 world championships in Cologne, Germany, and was seventh in pairs.
Diethelm Maxrath was Canada's head coach, and Wetzel developed philosophical differences with him over the training routine. Wetzel wasn't alone. Star sculler Derek Porter rebelled, too, but stuck around after arranging for someone other than Maxrath to coach him.
Wetzel quit, and, with his U.S. citizenship making him eligible, he joined the American team.
He won the world championship with his coxed four crew in St. Catharines, Ont., four years ago. He also represented the United States at the 2000 Olympics and was seventh in the quadruple sculls event. He returned to Berkeley to finish his studies and graduated with degrees in economics and statistics.
Things changed during his nearly two years away from the world scene. The coach he had at the Olympics in Australia was fired, the U.S. sculling centre was closed and U.S. crews were told they would be centralized in Princeton, N.J.
"It was an environment where I'd be fighting the system the entire time," Wetzel said. "It wasn't the place for me."
Meanwhile, Canada's team had rehired Richardson and lured back Mike Spracklen to guide the heavyweights.
"I'm close friends with Derek Porter and Derek speaks very highly of Mike and really felt Mike played a huge part in his development," Wetzel said recently from Victoria. "I was at the point that, if I was going to continue rowing, I wanted to be in the best environment I could be in.
"That has everything to do with coaching. Where you are has less to do with it. It has more to do with the environment the coach creates."
Spracklen, who is from Britain, was named coach of the year last year by the International Rowing Federation. He has a legion of loyal athletes who swear by his techniques.
So, when Wetzel represents Canada for the first time in four years, it'll have more to do with coaching and competing than it does with patriotism.
"It's going to be a very satisfying experience," he said. "What I felt before, when I was rowing on the U.S. team, was a great deal of satisfaction for representing that country because the selection process was very difficult.
"When you pull on a Canadian or a U.S. jersey, there's a brief moment where you recognize that it's really satisfying, but, ultimately, what it comes down to is the competing. That's what I'm really looking forward to."
Patriotism enters into it once a medal is won.
"Until you get to that point, it's not about the patriotism," he said. "It's about the performance, it's about competing."
Wetzel, a lean 6 foot 5 and 210 pounds, is thriving in the heavyweight four.
"I'm very pleased to be back in Victoria," he said. "I really like the program. It's very challenging. I've developed a lot in the last six months and I think it's shown in my performances."
Richardson has certainly been impressed.
"His physical presence and his determined attitude to training give him a leadership role," Richardson said. "He sets an excellent example."
The long-range goal for the entire team is the 2004 Summer Games in Athens, but there is little talk of the Olympics. The athletes prefer to set short-term goals and concentrate on races leading to the world regatta in Milan, Italy, in August.
"The immediate goal is to establish this four and for it to be successful," said Wetzel, who shaves his head and is into bluegrass music. "We've got a very good mix of people in the boat."
Wetzel is rowing with Cam Baerg, who is also from Saskatoon, Barney Williams of Salt Spring Island, B.C., and Tom Herschmiller of Comox, B.C. They have been training at Elk Lake, often in pairs, since January.
"Going to race now is going to be very exciting," Wetzel said. "My goal is to go to Henley and to Lucerne and see where our crew is at and what we need to do to prepare for Milan.
"After that, once we have an idea of what the field is, then we can have specific goals about the Olympics."
The Canadian men's eight, currently stroked by Kevin Light of Sidney, B.C., is the reigning world champion. Canada rarely has enough top manpower to also form a four worthy of challenging for world medals. Now it does, which says a lot about the program's depth this year.
When he has a chance for a getaway, Wetzel heads to Golden, B.C., to climb.
"That's what is going to take the place of rowing when I'm done competing," he said.
Things are going well for Canada's rowing team heading into the racing season, but the ride is never entirely smooth in amateur sports.
"It would be nice to have a principal sponsor," Richardson said. "That would give the team a lift."