Vashon celebrates Plihal’s return

Sweat brought him to Paris. Now, he’s home.

Olympic rower Jacob Plihal, born and raised on Vashon, was welcomed back to the island with cheers Tuesday, Aug. 27 at a party at the Vashon Theatre backlot, where he relived his final race, reconnected with friends and answered questions about the 2024 Olympic games in Paris, France.

Plihal, 28-years-old, competed in the men’s single sculls, in which individual rowers steer and propel themselves with an oar in each hand to try to finish a 2,000 meter course the fastest.

He placed 13th overall, and set an American record for the race in the process — making him the preeminent men’s single sculler for the United States.

After two tiring months of training and competing in Europe, Plihal said it was good to be back home.

“I can remember when he was a gangly teenager in the junior program, and he’s come a long way,” said Colby Atwood, a member of the rowing club since 1997 and previous president of the club. “It was awesome to think that he came from our community. … The rowing program on Vashon is very strong. We punch above our weight.”

Atwood also noted the physical and mental toughness and perfection of technique required to compete in the sculls.

“The total commitment that it takes is beyond most people’s comprehension,” Atwood said. “Hours and hours of maximal effort, and the mental discipline, especially in the single — it’s all on you.”

Plihal has become a role model for many young people on the island, Vashon Island Rowing Club (VIRC) board member Cameron Young Cooper said.

“It’s inspiring to have an athlete from Vashon Island representing the country at the Olympics … who’s so grounded, kind, humble, and hardworking,” she said.

And it takes many hands to launch an athlete, fellow VIRC board member Sean Waldron said, from coaches to parents to college communities.

“It takes so many people to have it come together, to give Jacob that chance, and he really excelled,” Waldron said.

Rower Mia Croonquist grew up with Plihal and attested to his dedication to the sport — and his humility, which she said “drives me nuts sometimes.”

“He’s a natural rower, build and body and mentality,” Croonquist said. “It’s not for the faint of heart, [but] he took to it like a fish in water. … He’s earned every single moment of this, no doubt.”

Croonquist would know, as Vashon’s second most-decorated rower. At 14, she became the youngest female rower ever to compete with the U.S. National team at the World Rowing Junior Championships — from which she returned with a gold medal. She’s won more medal at Worlds since and rowed on the under-23 team in 2015, bringing home two gold medals.

“I’m so proud of what he’s done for this little island,” Croonquist said. “To keep rowing post college like he has, there’s very few that do. What he’s done for the island, and the excitement that it’s bringing, is just awesome.”

“No use stressing out”

On August 27, that excitement took the form of 200 people who filled the backlot for a race recap and Q&A session between Plihal and rowing coach Tara Morgan.

They explored Plihal’s long road to the Olympics — which began, unexpectedly, after a baseball injury his sophomore year of high school.

His physical therapist, longtime islander Marilyn Kleyn, recommended rowing as a sport he could pursue while healing.

“I was like, that’s a stupid sport, I don’t want to wear spandex and mess around in boats,” Plihal said, to laughter from the crowd.

But Kleyn’s prodding, a “lackluster basketball season” and encouragement from friends on the rowing team — including Croonquist — eventually convinced Plihal to give it a try.

Plihal found he liked it, and went on to Northeastern University in Boston, where he became captain of the men’s rowing team. The Olympics became a goal around his sophomore and junior years in college, following words of encouragement from his coaches.

Plihal punched his ticket to the Paris games in June this year, after taking second at a regatta in Switzerland. It was the first time an American had qualified for the men’s single since 2012.

“What kept you training to make it?” Morgan asked.

“I guess stubbornness, self-belief,” Plihal replied.

After a couple of lackluster performances on the under-23 national teams , Plihal said he was left feeling he had something to prove — and decided to commit “to the grind.”

In Northeastern Global News, Plihal was quoted this July as saying: “Waking up every day and having a lofty goal to chase is really powerful. … And if I make it or not, I’m still going to have pushed myself further than I probably would have thought was possible.”

He joined 591 other U.S. competitors across 34 sports at Vaires-sur-Marne, about 15 miles from Paris, for the 2024 games. (The U.S. earned the most medals of any country, tying with China for 40 gold medals each.)

Call it bad luck or simply tough competition, but Plihal was edged out of contention for the gold in a series of seriously tough races.

In his July 27 heat, he beat the third-place boat by only 0.01 seconds (or 2.5 inches) to take second place. That put him in the quarterfinals against the defending Olympic champion.

Plihal set a personal best by more than three seconds in that race, but still fell short by 0.7 seconds of the third-place finish he needed to stay in medal contention.

It was “the right race on the right day,” Plihal recalled —it just happened to be against very strong competitors.

“That’s just how it goes,” he said.

Plihal next raced in, and won, the “C/D” semifinals, which determine places 13 through 24. That gave him a three day break before the “C” final on Aug. 3.

Displaying that final race on the big screen for the audience, Morgan began by asking Plihal how he prepared moments before the race began.

“Just breathing, relaxing,” Plihal said. “You can’t do much here except just wait, so no use stressing out about it. … At that moment, I was confident that I was in a good spot to win it.”

To do that, though, “I knew I needed to get out of the blocks fast,” he said — something he’d struggled a bit with in earlier races during the competition.

He didn’t struggle this time. Plihal blasted into the lead at the start and held first place for the entire race. In the end, he won by a commanding 2.5 seconds — setting an American record (6:41.97) and clinching 13th place out of 33 scullers.

One can’t simply compare times between different races because of variables like wind speed. But that said: Plihal’s time in the C final would have won the B final and placed him second in the A final.

“We did it”

Watching their son from the crowd that evening were Plihal’s parents, Chris and Jim Plihal. They were cheering Jacob on in France, too, along with his sister, who happens to live in that country.

In a word, they said, the experience has been “surreal.”

“I’m still having a hard time wrapping my head around it,” Chris Plihal said.

“As a parent, you keep looking at your kid as a kid,” Jim Plihal said. “Even when we’re sitting in the stands in Paris, it’s like, you have to pinch yourself. … You can’t believe you’re there.”

His parents have a pretty good work ethic, but Jacob “surpasses that in ways we can’t even fathom,” Jim said — even when he was a kid building Lego sets, so focused in his room that you’d have to yell to break him out of his focused trance.

“He’s always just been really stubborn,” Jim Plihal said. “He sets his mind to a goal and he goes after it.”

Jim Plihal also shared a story from when Jacob earned his Olympic ticket at the Switzerland regatta.

“Jacob docked his boat, came up the ramp, gave me this big hug and said, ‘We did it,’ ” Jim Plihal said. “That’s the perspective he has as a young man. He knows it takes a village. He knows there’s a huge foundation to get him to the top of the pyramid. And as his father, that’s what I’m proud of.”

“I’m proud of him, and I love who he is,” Chris Plihal said. “He’s worked hard for everything he’s accomplished, but he also gives credit to other people.”

Following the presentation, Plihal signed posters and gave advice for future would-be Olympian rowers: “Enjoy it. Row hard. Commit to your race. Trust your training. Be a student of the sport. Watch World Rowing races. Be thoughtful, be consistent, and be a good teammate.”

The response to his competition has been “incredible,” Plihal said.

When he started “this whole rowing thing,” Plihal said, there were conversations about how long he’d pursue a dream that seemed to benefit only himself — one that was maybe even “selfish.”

“But events like this, and messages I receive, makes me realize … it has the ability to bring people together. I have high school rowers I don’t even know messaging me on Instagram saying ‘This has been super inspiring.’ “

What’s next for the Olympian?

“Vacation,” Plihal said to a round of applause.

And some more pain: Plihal will on September 14 compete in the 80-mile, 10,000-feet-of-elevation “Idiot” course of Passport2Pain, the island’s punishing, quad-popping bike ride which also serves as a fundraiser for the rowing club.

After that? Only Jacob knows for sure.