Tony Zasada

Canadian Tony Zasada took up rowing at the age of 15, after accidentally walking into the Regina Rowing Club when intending to join the canoe team. He attended the University of Victoria and joined their rowing squad before making the Canadian National Team in 1983. He travelled with them to the Pan American Games in Caracas that year where he took home a bronze medal in the men’s eights. He was then selected to represent his nation at the 1984 Summer Olympics in the men’s coxed pairs, becoming the first rower from the province of Saskatchewan to compete in the Olympics. The crew, consisting of Zasada, Harold Backer, and Tan Barkley, were fourth in their heat in the opening round, but qualified in the repêchage and participated in the final, where they placed fifth.

Two weeks after his Olympic final Zasada was a passenger in a vehicle involved in a fatal car accident with a drunk driver and did not survive. The $2000 Tony Zasada Memorial Award was established by his family and is awarded annually by Rowing Canada to a rower who “best emulates Tony’s character and determination”. A similar award was set up at the University of Victoria, honoring an outstanding member of the men’s and women’s rowing squad every year. He was made a member of the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame in 1991.