Caryn Davies, a nine-time US senior team and three-time US Olympic medalist, has been named the 2023 recipient of the Thomas Keller Medal; Davies is the first American to win the award, which is considered the 'highest award in rowing' by WorldRowing.

Some of Davies's accomplishments:

• Three Olympic teams and medals - 2004 (silver W8), 2008 (gold W8), 2012 (gold W8)
• Four Worlds gold medals (2002 W8, 2003 W4, 2006 W8, 2007 W8)
• Eight World Cup medals (five gold, one silver, two bronze)
• Two Junior Worlds medals (2000 gold in W4-, 1999 silver W8)
• NCAA Championship V8 win with Harvard-Radcliffe in 2003, third in 2005
• Stroked winning Oxford Blue Boat in 2015

News links:

• See criteria for and previous winners of the award here.
• The 2023 World Rowing Awards' winners are revealed, WorldRowing press release
• World Rowing Names Caryn Davies 2023 Thomas Keller Medal Recipient, USRowing press release.

Davies accepted the award via teleconference; her comments are below in the embedded video and transcription.

"When I found out I'd been nominated for the Thomas Keller medal, I looked up the selection criteria, and I saw that it comes down to two broad categories: competitive success and character.

I can't take credit for my competitive success. I was lucky enough to have been born with natural talent, grown up guided by thoughtful coaches, and trained alongside tough and hard-working teammates.

At the starting line at the London Olympics

For me, the real honor of this award is knowing that others have seen and recognized how hard I have worked to be a good competitor and teammate.

When I told one of my teammates I'd been nominated, she said, "I always think about how you'd pick up trash at the side of the road on our warm-up runs. And all the other little things you do when nobody's watching."

But clearly somebody was watching: my teammate was watching, and she remembered.

That was when I realized that you never know what it is that people will remember about you. It's not likely to be your moments in the spotlight, like when you win an Olympic gold medal. It's more likely to be the small daily gestures of kindness, like when you notice how a teammate is lagging behind the group and you do an extra lap to keep her company as she finishes the workout.

Even though I've retired from competition, I know the work of being a good teammate isn't done.

This is something Thomas Keller understood well. On his tenth anniversary as president of World Rowing, he told his colleagues,

"[Rowing has taught us] the true meaning of words such as comradeship, discipline, self-sacrifice, personal commitment," and we must "pay back our debt of recognition helping the next generation of athletes enrich itself as we did."

For my part, I know my debt is far from repaid. Just as Thomi Keller's most important contributions to the sport came after he retired from competition, I intend to earn this honor, Thomas Keller's namesake award, through my future actions and attitude.

...and for those listening, I hope that you will strive to do the same."

On her first senior team in the three-seat of the 2002 US Women's Eight

See the full 2023 WorldRowing awards ceremony below:

US Women's Eight with gold medals in 2012

USA women's and men's eights in 2004; Davies is lower left