Jessica Monroe-Gonin (2009)

The 1990s were banner years for the Canadian women's rowing team and Jessica Monroe was right in the middle of that success. The Victoria High grad, born in Palo Alto, California and living in North Vancouver, honed her rowing strokes at False Creek and University of Victoria clubs before solidifying her place on the national squad. In 1991, when the Canadian women rowers burst onto the international scene at the World championships, Jessica was on the record setting, gold-medal crews in coxless fours and coxed eights. The fours crew record time of 6 minutes, 25.4 seconds, stood until 2006. That success set up the crews well for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, where she again won double gold in fours and eights. Jessie Monroe-Gonin collected a silver with the eights crew in 1996 in Atlanta to round out her Olympic medal haul. At age 31 she helped Canada's women's eights to a silver medal at the 1997 worlds, marking an impressive finish to her outstanding international rowing career.