MICHAEL SIMONSON is the Provincial Technical Director with the Alberta Rowing Association responsible for overseeing all aspects of the high performance program in his own province. Through his connections with Alberta Rowing - Simonson keeps in contact with provincial and national coaches on an on-going basis working as the primary liaison between Canada’s national rowing team and the Alberta rowing.

Simonson’s background in sport does not begin and end in the boardroom. He knows sport as a successful high-performance athlete himself:

• His experience in high-performance sports began in 1999, when he competed as a rower at both the Canadian Championships and Olympic Trials.
• In 2000, he won the prestigious Royal Canadian Henley regatta.
• The next year, he became a carded (paid) athlete under Sport Canada’s Athlete Assistance Program.
• For the next three years, rowing was his full-time profession. During this time, he was a member of Athletes Canada and the Canadian Centre for High Performance Sport.
• Simonson competed for Canada at the 2001 World Rowing Championships in Lucerne, Switzerland, finishing eighth in the Lightweight Men’s eight event.
• He competed for his country two years later at the 2003 Pan-American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, winning two silver medals in the Lightweight Men’s four and Men’s eight events. Upon his return to Canada, he received a medal of honor from the City of Calgary, a medal of distinction from the Calgary Booster Club, and numerous letters of recognition from federal MPs and sport ministers.

Following his retirement in 2004 Simonson continued to remain active in sport;

• In 2005 Simonson was elected Vvice-Ppresident of for the Alberta Rowing Association
• The following year Simonson was appointed co - coach of the Calgary Rowing Club where he continues to guide a number of athletes to Canada’s National Rowing Teams.
• In 2007 he was selected as Alberta’s representative to Rowing Canada’s Inter-provincial coaches committee communicating with the heads of Canada’s national rowing team on an on-going basis.
• Today Simonson is a level III certified rowing coach, and a member of the Coaching Association of Canada.

Lastly Simonson is genuinely interested in amateur sport. Since the conclusion of the 2004 Games in Athens, Simonson has interviewed hundred of athletes and high-ranking sport officials throughout Canada across a broad spectrum of sports, gathering inside knowledge of the challenges faced by athletes and sport organizations today. A few of the high-profile athletes and officials that Simonson has spoken to, include;

• Donovan Bailey – Olympic gold medalist at the 1996 Olympics in Track & Field
• Sherraine Mackay – Author and 2005 World Champion in Woman Epee
• Marnie McBean – Canada’s most decorated summer Olympian
• Susan Auch – Olympic silver medalist at the 2002 Olympics in speed skating
• Randy Starkman – Senior writer- Toronto Star
• James Christie – Senior writer - Globe and Mail
• John Furlong –CEO of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games
• Pierre Lafontaine –CEO of Swimming Canada
• Russ Anber – Boxing Analyst with TSN
• Stephen Owen – Former minister of sport with the Liberal government.
• Michael Chong – Current minister of sport with the Conservative government.
• Ken Read – President and CEO of Alpine Canada
• Paul Henderson – One of four IOC members who reside in Canada.
• Paul Martini - CBC analyst and 1984 World Champion in the sport of figure skating.
• Chris Rudge – CEO of the Canadian Olympic Committee
• Russ Jackson – CEO of the Own the Podium Program
• Alex Baumann – Olympic gold medalist at the 1984 Olympics and CEO of the Road to Excellence Program

And many more……

Combining his experience as a spectator, an athlete, a coach, investigator and now director Simonson has the best and most accurate perspective on Canada’s performance at the Olympics and amateur sport in Canada and what can be done to increase Canada’s success.