After two previous attempts, Olympic hopeful Matt Muffelman '03 has earned the honor of representing the United States at the Rowing World Championships this year. The former captain of the Dartmouth men's lightweight crew team and president of the Dartmouth Rowing Club posted his qualifying time in the Rowing World Championship Trials at Princeton, N.J., last week.
On July 18 Muffelman and his boatmates completed the 2000-meter course at Princeton in 6:01.693 -- a mere 0.3 seconds faster than the required time standard set by the U.S. governing body of rowing to compete at the world championships -- and defeated another top lightweight squad, the Undine Barge Club of Philadelphia, in a two-out-of-three set of racing.
Muffelman has since returned to Boston to continue preparing for the Rowing World Championship, which is held in Gifu, Japan, from Aug. 28 to Sept. 4 this year.
While at Dartmouth, the Mobjack, Va., native was a four-year member and two-year captain of the men's lightweight crew team under the instruction of coaches Chris Woll and Dick Grossman.
During his time at Dartmouth, Muffelman helped bring the Big Green a silver medal at the Eastern Sprints, a bronze medal at the Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championship and a second-place finish at the First Varsity Lightweight Eights.
Since his graduation, Muffelman has been training at the Riverside Boat Club in Cambridge year-round alongside his former Dartmouth boatmates John Nichols '01, Tom Stephens '01 and Adam Tapley '03. In the past two summers, Muffelman also trained with members of the New York Athletic Club in New York.
At the 2004 U.S. Rowing National Championships, Muffelman and boatmate Jeff Forrester defeated the competition by 2.90 seconds and claimed the men's elite lightweight pair national title.
At the same competition, Muffelman also won the senior men's lightweight single. During the fall of 2004, Muffelman's team, the Riverside men's lightweight eight, earned a bronze metal at the Head of Charles regatta.
At the 2005 World Indoor Rowing Championship, Muffelman finished in the top 20 in men's open lightweight out of 144 elite rowers from around the world.
Despite being a full-time rower, Muffelman works part-time to pay for his rowing expenses. Not only does the team use completely self-funded boats, but Muffelman and his teammates also need to raise over $40 thousand to cover the costs of airfare, hotel, food and equipment for the Rowing World Championships.
"I have to pay for my trip there," Muffelman said. "[Rowing] is not a sport where you'd make a million bucks."
Nonetheless, Muffelman remains unfettered by financial burdens.
"I am hoping to qualify for the 2008 Olympics," Muffelman said. "I'll continue to train after the world championships."
