Olympic gold-medallist Kevin Light of Sidney knows it's not going to change Rowing Canada's controversial decision to fire noted coach Mike Spracklen.
"Mike's gone," said Light.
But Light is one of 29 Canadian rowers from past and present - with 78 Olympic and world championship medals between them - who signed an open letter this week to the president and board of Rowing Canada asking for an independent review of the "failures of the high performance executive team."
The group said it wants a more transparent process in the future.
"The letter is not to get Mike back," said Light.
"But to make a point regarding decisions made in the years ahead.
"They [a small group of Spracklen's detractors] say Mike was a divisive coach but look at his record [coaching Canadian Olympic crews to two gold medals, two silver medals and a bronze]," said Light, two-time world champion and Olympic gold medallist with Spracklen's Canadian Beijing 2008 men's eight.
"There are no secrets. You've got to put in the work. That's what Mike believed in. I want to move on and part of moving on is to honour Mike by applying what he taught me when I coach the Claremont team."
Olympic gold-medallist Dominic Seiterle of Victoria took the lead in authoring the open letter.
"It is important that Rowing Canada is as accountable to the athletes as the athletes are to their performance on the water," he said.
"Any review conducted should be open and transparent . . . and should make sure to look at the whole system - including executives."
Martin McElroy was named Tuesday by Rowing Canada as the new high performance director for the Elk Lake-based national men's program as the team builds to the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics.
