Michelle Darvill

Canadian-born rower Michelle Darvill partnered Ruth Kaps at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics in the lightweight double sculls, but the pair did not reach the final and placed eighth after coming second in the B-final. Darvill rowed for Canada until 1994 and then moved to Germany as she held dual citizenship. In 1991 she won the silver medal in the lightweight double sculls partnering Colleen Miller. In 1993, Darvill won the World Championships in the lightweight single sculls.

With Germany, Darvill added two more world titles, with the lightweight double sculls in 1997, and lightweight quadruple sculls in 2000. She also won German national titles in 1994 (single sculls), the double sculls with Kaps in 1995 and quadruple sculls 1996 and 1997. Darvill later returned to Canada and took up coaching. From 2009, she was chief national coach of the Canadian U-23 women’s team. In 2021, the Canadian eights coached by Darvill surprisingly won the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. In January 2022, she became chief national coach of the Dutch women’s team.