Rich Weiss

Rich Weiss was a whitewater canoeist who competed in K-1 slalom at the 1992 and 1996 Olympics. Between Olympics he won a silver medal in K-1 slalom at the 1993 World Championships. Weiss attended the Colorado School of Mines, where he studied geological engineering. He then earned a masters’ degree in hydrogeology from Penn State, and a PhD from the University of British Columbia in geological sciences. He started his own company, Weisswater Associates, which did environmental consulting.

Unfortunately, after the 1996 Olympics, Weiss did not get to use that wealth of knowledge for long. In June 1997 he was descending a rapid on the White Salmon River in Washington, when he went over a 15-foot waterfall. He never surfaced and drowned to death. He was 33-years-old. USA Canoe/Kayak issued a statement, saying “He was the best we had.”