“Harry’s been there for 50 years, and he’s the best coach you’ll ever find,” Rummel said. “He guided me through Harvard by pushing me and keeping me focused not just on what we could do as a team, but what I could accomplish as an individual. He knew my potential and steered me in the right direction when I wasn't sure what to do or where to go to train.”

Despite the long list of successful rowers to have come through Parker’s program, the long-time coach is still as enthusiastic as ever to see his former oarsmen compete in the Olympics.

“[Henrik] has put in his work over the last several years within the national team program,” Parker said. “He’s just now reaching his peak, and we’re really excited about his future.”

RED, WHITE, AND WHO?

Rummel’s journey to the Olympics was hardly traditional. After failing to qualify as a member of the USA eight at the 2011 World Rowing Championships with an eighth-place finish, Rummel reassessed his goals and prioritized making the four, which qualified by finishing fourth at those same championships.

“It all kind of came apart at Worlds; we underperformed drastically,” Rummel said. “And I said, alright, where do I want to be? Who do I want to row with? So, I set my priority on the four and decided that I wanted to row with the best rowers out there.”

After committing to the four, Rummel qualified for the Games in a boat alongside Scott Gault, Charlie Cole, and Glenn Ochal. Gault, a University of Washington graduate and the veteran of the boat, is the only crew member with Olympic experience, finishing fifth in the quadruple scull in Beijing in 2008. Cole, US Rowing’s 2011 Athlete of the Year, was a member of the Yale crew that bested Rummel and Harvard in 2007, and Ochal rowed against Rummel while at Princeton.

Ochal and Rummel are both newcomers to this boat, beating out other competition to join Gault and Cole on the four. The foursome has never competed in a major regatta together.

“Our goal is to go out there and win a medal, and I don’t think that’s out of reach at all,” Rummel said. “We’re a bit of an unknown because as a boat we haven’t raced together yet, but we know that we’re fast, and we’re ready to surprise some people.”

Competition in the men’s four begins with heats on July 30, and concludes with the grand final on August 4. Host Great Britain is the three-time defending Olympic champion, but the last two seasons of international fours have been extremely closely contested, and Australia beat out the UK in the most recent World Cup event by 0.87 seconds.

“The four is incredibly competitive, and a medal would really be quite an accomplishment,” Parker said.

STAYING AFLOAT

In the three years since graduating, Rummel has faced a problem most Olympic athletes confront: funding a career that generally cannot financially sustain itself. After living off support from his father for the first year, Rummel, an Applied Mathematics concentrator, has taken to tutoring as his primary source of income. But even with the stipend provided by US Rowing, the costs of travel, training, and accommodations often demand unorthodox sources of income.

“I can’t even count the number of odd jobs I’ve worked here and there just to keep afloat and be able to travel and compete,” Rummel said.

But Rummel said that he knew—and was prepared for—the lifestyle he was getting himself into.