WAC Magazine

May 2013

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Olympic hopefuls " Gold is definitely within reach." A sculler extraordinaire Between running a Business, finishing his degree, planning a move to the Bay area, and being at the vanguard of an american revolution in Olympic rowing, Hans struzyna is a hard guy to catch. He's just come from a sales call for his undergraduate business project—selling greeting cards made out of beer (more on that later)—when we sit down in the water-view office that houses the waC archives. Like almost all competitive rowers in the united states, Hans has specialized in "sweep"—the discipline of rowing where each rower pulls a single oar with both hands, urged on by a shouting coxswain. this is the style of the classic "eights" race that's the jewel of competitive american rowing, and in which the u.s. has medaled in two of the past three Olympics. But there's a catch: Only six of the 14 Olympic rowing events are for sweep oars. the other eight are sculling events—in which the rowers hold one oar in each hand. in most of the sculling events in the 2012 Olympics, the u.s. didn't even qualify a boat. in an effort to win a medal for his country, and for himself, Hans is making the switch from sweep to sculling. "the most exciting thing to me is that so few people think we can be successful at it," he says. "it's a challenge." Family ties to WaC Hans is tall and muscular, with short blond hair, and easy to talk to. He's wearing a classic seattle outfit—a fleece, cargo pants, and worn-in sneakers. He's a third-generation waC member and was also a member of the university of washington's 2011 national champion rowing team. His grandparents had their honeymoon in one of the inn at the waC suites. "Our family has a special relationship with the waC," he says. even more so now as Hans has joined the Club's Olympic hopefuls program. as part of the program, he's been paired with a mentor—another former Husky athlete, John Buller, who was a forward for the Husky basketball team in the late 1960s. John is helping Hans transition to the working world, a unique challenge for high-level athletes. "there's a direct conflict between career and training," John says. 28 | Washington Athletic Club Magazine | MAY 2013 A nAturAl phenOm With his height and long arms, hans struzyna has the ideal build for rowing. But his proclivity for the sport goes beyond his frame—he has tremendous endurance as well. one rowing observer called hans "a physiological phenom." he's rowed 2,000-meter (the standard olympic rowing distance) in 5:48 on a Concept2 indoor rower, the typical machine for indoor rowing. That's just 12 seconds off the world record. Try a 2,000 next time you're at the WAC. Concept2 indoor rowers are located in Coed and Men's fitness.

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