SEATTLE — In 1936 nine young men from the University of Washington shocked the world by winning gold at the Berlin Olympics in rowing.
Nearly nine decades later, another USA crew team has emerged with ties to UW.
Over the last 100 years, UW rowing has developed 46 Olympic medalists and 35 national champions. In 1984, former UW coach Bob Earnst helped the US women win an Olympic gold in the women's eight.
Now, another UW coach has taken the lead as the U.S. tries to get back to the top of the rowing world.
"A perfect day out there," Rielly Milne said. "You want to start with good energy, good energy in the morning, progresses to good pieces.
"When all eight sync up, the boat almost rises out of the water and just takes off and you just feel like all eight people are totally locked into doing the same thing," Nick Rusher said.
"We're working towards one common goal and there's no superhero there's no superstar on this it's not a one-man show," Christian Tabash said.
Michael Callahan has been coaching crew at UW for 20 years.
"People that work the hardest at it generally succeed the most, and I love that correlation of working hard and having success," Callahan said.
And Callahan has had plenty of success. He's been the Pac-12 coach of the year 10 times and helped the Huskies win five straight national championships. In 2004 he was a member of the US Olympic team.
"I tell you what, there's nothing like being at a starting line and instead of them naming your high school, your college or the club that you're rowing for, they start and say the United States of America ready, Great Britain ready, Germany ready, it gives you goosebumps to know that you're representing your country," Callahan said.
Twenty years later, Callahan is back with the red, white, and blue as the head coach of the Men's Eight.
"I think that's another thing about rowing is that you can represent something bigger than yourself and it's so humbling," Callahan said.
"I feel like when people are little kids growing up, the kids are like, I want to be an astronaut or I want to be a doctor or I want to be an Olympian, and you know, I think people just kind of forget about those dreams sometimes," Evan Olson said.
Olson never stopped dreaming. At Bothell High, he was a cross-country runner.
"I was exceptionally bad. I wasn't even on the JV squad. I was on the open team," Olson said. "I tried hard though. I tried really hard and I'm like, I guess I'm just bad at all sports."
Then his mom gave him a book to read.
"She's like, 'Evan, you should read this book,'" Olson said. "It's all about teamwork and pulling hard for each other and I'm like, 'Oh, cool, just like cross country.' It's not like cross country. It's way better."
The book was called "The Boys In The Boat," a true story based on the struggles and sacrifices made by a UW rowing team that trained on Lake Washington and went on to win gold at the 1936 Olympics.
"I read it in the fall 2013 and then I started rowing in January 2014," Olson said. "So, it was a pretty quick, pretty quick turnaround for me."
Ten years later, Olson make up the US Men's Eight.
"It's a huge honor," Olson said.
"Every time we race for team USA and, you know, you have the flag on your chest, you do with a lot of pride, and it means that extra bit more to you," Peter Quinton said.
Nearly 90 years after the Boys in the Boat trained on the Mountlake Cup, Team USA has returned to the hallowed waters.
"Yeah, it's special, a special place, Seattle has always been a big home for Olympians," Chris Carlson said.
In preparation for the final Olympic qualification regatta in Switzerland, Callahan wanted his team to be surrounded by greatness and history.
"It's a great story of local heroes and to be back here, you know, training on the same body of water that they trained on to win back in 1936," Quinton said.
The USA team has wrapped up their training in Seattle and is practicing at Princeton University before they travel to Switzerland. The final Olympic Qualification Regatta will take place in Lucerne, Switzerland May 19-21.