Olympic champion Gruchalla-Wesierski retires from Canadian rowing team

Team Canada athlete and rower Kasia Gruchalla-Wesierski poses during media day organized by the Canadian Olympic Committee in Montreal on Thursday, Dec.14, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi

VICTORIA — Olympic rowing champion Kasia Gruchalla-Wesierski has retired from the Canadian national team, Rowing Canada announced Wednesday.

The 34-year-old Montreal-born, Calgary-raised athlete won gold in the women’s eights at the Tokyo Games, just weeks after a cycling crash left her with a broken collarbone and 56 stitches.

She added a silver medal with the women’s eights at the Paris Olympics last summer.

Gruchalla-Wesierski, a former competitive skier, took up rowing at 23 and joined the senior national team in 2018.

“I am so grateful to everyone who believed in us and supported this team, and to those who supported me as an individual,” she said in a statement. “I hope to leave the sport better than I found it and continue to develop the sport in a new capacity.”

Gruchalla-Wesierski is now a coach with the Calgary Rowing Club and works as a development coordinator in the University of Calgary’s alumni and development office.

She will also serve as an athlete services officer with the Canadian Olympic Committee at the 2026 Milano-Cortina Winter Games.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 1, 2025.