BRYAN VOLPENHEIN
Hometown: Cincinnati, Ohio
Current Residence: Princeton, N.J.
Club Affiliation: USRowing Training Center
Began Rowing: The Ohio State University, 1994
Date of Birth: 8/18/76
Height: 6’3”
Weight: 215
High School: Kings High School
Undergraduate Education: The Ohio State University
Current Coach: Mike Teti
International Results: Finished seventh in the pair at the 2008 FISA World Cup stop in Munich...Finished eighth in the four at the 2007 FISA World Championships...Won a gold medal in the eight and finished fifth in the four at the 2005 FISA World Championships...Won a gold medal in the eight at the 2004 Olympic Games...Set a world record in the eight during the heats at the 2004 Olympic Games...Won a gold medal in the four at the 2004 BearingPoint World Cup stop in Lucerne...Won a silver medal in the eight at the 2003 FISA World Championships... Finished fifth in the pair at the 2003 BearingPoint World Cup stop in Milan...Won a bronze medal in the eight at the 2002 FISA World Championships...Won a gold medal in the eight at the 2002 FISA World Cup stop in Lucerne...Finished fourth in the eight at the 2001 FISA World Championships... Finished fifth in the eight at the 2000 Olympic Games...Won the gold medal in the eight at the 1999 FISA World Championships...Won the gold medal in the eight at the 1998 FISA World Championships.
National Results: Won gold in the four and eight at the 2007 USRowing National Championships...Won the pair at the 2004, 2005 and 2008 National Selection Regattas...Won the eight at the 2001 and 2002 USRowing National Championships...Won gold in the championship eight at the 1998, 1999, 2001 and 2002 Head of the Charles...Finished second in the four with coxswain and third in the eight at the 1998 USRowing National Championships.
Personal: Bryan is a 10-time national team member and two-time Olympian...He stroked the men’s eight to its first Olympic gold medal in 40 years and a world record at the 2004 Olympic Games...He also stroked the men’s four to gold at the 2004 World Cup stop in Switzerland, beating the defending world champions from Canada and the eventual Olympic champions from Great Britain by open water...For his efforts, Bryan was named the USRowing Male Athlete of the Year in 2004, becoming the only person to ever win the award twice...He also won the award in 2002...Bryan took time off from rowing following the 2005 World Championships to go to culinary arts school at The Art Institute of Seattle...He did his apprenticeship at Rover’s Restaurant and also worked at the Ponti Seafood Grill, both in Seattle...Bryan developed his interest in cooking in his early teens when he would come home from school and watch a cooking show on great chefs from around the world...His interest was put on the “back burner” until 2004, when he started cooking meals out of an Indian cookbook with his girlfriend...Bryan’s culinary school focus was in French cooking methods, but he also enjoys Mexican flavors and Latin cuisine...His ideal meal is a grilled steak with a raw vegetable salad or grilled vegetables...Eventually, he would like to combine his rowing and cooking backgrounds to teach rowers how to cook healthy, inexpensive meals conducive to the training lifestyle...Bryan also enjoys reading cookbooks and recommends Tom Colicchio’s Think Like a Chef: The Craft of Cooking and Paul Bertolli’s Cooking By Hand...Bryan played baseball, soccer and volleyball growing up and began rowing in college...He grew up a huge fan of the Cincinnati Reds and Cincinnati Bengals...Now, he is a big college football fan...Bryan lists The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals by Michael Pollan as one of his favorite books...He also likes the works of J.D. Salinger and F. Scott Fitzgerald...He is a big soccer fan and lists the sporting event that he would most like to attend as the final of the FIFA World Cup or the UEFA Cup.
(updated 6/27/2008)