Michael Wherley

Michael J. "Mike" Wherley (born March 15, 1972 in Waconia, MN) is a 3-time World Champion and 2-time Olympian in the sport of rowing. He started rowing at the University of Minnesota in 1990, before rowing at Penn AC Rowing Association and then the U.S. National Team from 1997–2004. Wherley was part of the U.S. Men's 8+ that won three straight World Championships in 1997–1999. He placed 5th in the Men's 4- at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, which was won by Sir Steven Redgrave and the crew from Great Britain. Wherley won two more medals in the U.S. Men's 8+, before ending his National Team career at the Athens Olympics in 2004 with a 10th place finish in the Men's 4-. Wherley later won the 2008 Boat Race with the University of Oxford (as the oldest rower in the history of the event) and was inducted into the National Rowing Hall of Fame in 2014. He currently is President at Penn AC Rowing Association and lives in Philadelphia with his wife, Janet Distel, and their daughter.