Ottawa Rowing Clubs Morgan Jarvis is an accidental Olympic athlete.

The Winnipeg-born Jarvis retired as a high-performance rower in 2005 to focus on his university education, which led to a BSc in biology, a masters in molecular medicine and his Juris Doctor law degree, all from Queens University.

After he shifted his academic career focus to law from medicine, he earned a summer job at the Ottawa law firm of Gowlings, but continued to maintain his early-morning, late-afternoon participation in rowing.

When Gowlings lawyer Frank Mulock learned about Jarviss talents as a rower bronze medallist in lightweight quad sculls at the 2005 world championships and a bronze winner in lightweight double sculls at the 2004 and 2005 world U23 championships he wondered why there was nothing on his resume about the Summer Olympics.

Jarvis replied that striving for such a monumental goal required a huge time and financial commitment, plus he didnt want to sacrifice losing an articling opportunity at Gowlings.

Mulock tried to get Jarvis to think about chasing the Olympic dream by putting rowing articles on his desk chair during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

On the water, Jarviss training and race results at a much lower level were productive, which allowed him to think he might have a chance to make the Olympic team.

He looked at his athletic career and said: Why not? Why not be the best you can be?

The support and encouragement Jarvis received at Gowlings brought him to a career crossroads. In 2010, he approached Gowlings and asked if he could delay his articling for two years until the fall of 2012. That would give him two years to train for the Games and then allow him start his articling.

Gowlings overwhelming approved of Jarviss Olympic journey.

Link:

Cleary: For Olympic rower, the law could wait