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5/1/03-Rowing
Olympian
Owes His Success to St. Mary's
Orchard Lake Good News
ORCHARD LAKE--David Simon (Prep '98) is Orchard Lake's first
alumnus-Olympian. He was a member of the highly favored 8-man U.S. boat in
the 2000 Sydney Games that came in fifth place, making the team - at 20, the
youngest rower on a crew whose average age was 27 - after undergoing
microsurgery to repair a herniated disc in his back less than three months
before Team USA departed for Australia.
He graduated from Brown University in December with a major in modern American history.
"I raced in an Olympic final two years out of St. Mary's and graduated from an Ivy League school four years out of St. Mary's," the 1998 prep graduate told students assembled in April in the Shrine Chapel of Our Lady of Orchard Lake for the christening of a new shell named in his honor. "I would not be where I am today without my time spent here at St. Mary's."
Simon has a herculean resume of rowing achievements, starting his senior year as a member of St. Mary's 8-man team that lost the world championship by half-a-boat length in England. At Brown, he and his mates won the freshman-8 national title; as a sophomore, he helped Brown win the Eastern Championships. He was a member of the U.S.Gold medalists in the 1999 Pan American Games. In 2000, Simon set a new American record and came within one second of the world record in indoor rowing competition.
"The Olympic motto - Swifter, Higher, Stronger - was ingrained in me long before I entered the Olympic arena," Simon said. "It was imparted to me during my time at Orchard Lake. My teachers and coaches were getting me ready for the real world. I'm pleased to stand here today and report back to you that St. Mary's Prep did a fantastic job."
A West Bloomfield native, Simon plans on locating out East and finding employment in the business world. And, oh, yes, he plans on trying out for the American rowing team for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.
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