INDIANAPOLIS – Rachel Anderson (Darien, Conn.) and Jon Watling (Greenwich, Conn.) have been named USRowing’s 2003 Female and Male Athletes of the Year, respectively, the organization announced Tuesday.
Anderson, a graduate of Brown University, stroked the lightweight women’s double sculls to a fourth-place finish at the 2003 FISA World Rowing Championships in Milan, Italy. The finish qualified the United States for the event at next year’s Olympic Games. However, the world championships only serve as a country qualifier for the Olympics, so Anderson will still have to win the U.S. trials to earn a berth on the 2004 Olympic Team. In addition to her performance at the world championships, Anderson won this year’s U.S. National Selection Regatta and finished fifth at the world cup stop in Munich, Germany, in the lightweight double with partner Lisa Schlenker. A two-time national team member, Anderson won a gold medal in the lightweight women’s pair at the 1999 World Championships before taking three years off from international competition. Anderson currently lives in Kingston, N.J., and trains at USRowing’s Princeton Training Center.
Watling, a three-time national team member and graduate of Yale University, helped the men’s eight to a silver medal at the 2003 FISA World Rowing Championships, locking down a qualifying spot in the eight for the U.S. at next year’s Olympics. Watling has been a mainstay of the men’s eight since 2001, helping the boat to a bronze medal at the 2002 World Championships and a fourth-place finish in 2001. Watling lives in Princeton, N.J., and also trains at Princeton Training Center.
The athletes and coaches of the 2003 World Championships Team selected this year’s USRowing Female and Male Athletes of the Year. Anderson and Watling will be honored at the USRowing Annual Convention in Palm Springs, Calif., in December.