This win represented the first time that the Canadian men's eight won an Olympic or World Championship gold medal. That same year this team also won gold at the Lucerne International Regatta in Switzerland at which all the rowing nations of the era (including the Soviet Union and East Germany) were present. Although the crew only came together in 1984, members of the crew had competed individually in other crews before 1984. Among their ranks were Pan American Games medallists, World Junior Championships medallists and medallists in several other prestigious events such as the Henley Royal Regatta.
The success of this crew laid the foundation for numerous Canadian Olympic and World Championship victories in the men's and women's eights that followed.
Drew Cameron Ginn OAM is an Australian five-time world champion rower, a four time Olympian and triple Olympic gold medallist. From 1995 to 1998 he was a member of Australia's prominent world class crew – the coxless four known as the Oarsome Foursome.
James Bruce Tomkins, is an Australian rower, seven-time World Champion and a three-time Olympic gold medalist. He is Australia's most awarded oarsman, having made appearances at six Olympic games ; eleven World Championships ; four Rowing World Cups and eighteen state representative King's Cup appearances – the Australian blue riband men's VIII event,. Tomkins is one of only five Australian athletes and four rowers worldwide to compete at six Olympics. From 1990 to 1998 he was the stroke of Australia's prominent world class crew – the coxless four known as the Oarsome Foursome.
Peter Thomas AntonieOAM is an Australian former rower. He is an Olympic & Commonwealth games gold medallist and world champion. He is regarded as one of Australia's greatest ever rowers figuring in senior representative squads consistently from 1977 to 1996 and representing Australia on eighteen occasions at three Olympics and fifteen World Rowing Championships. He competed at the highest levels as both a sculler and a sweep oarsman, in both lightweight and open divisions, across all boat classes. He won twenty-nine Australian national championship titles in his career.
Neil William Campbell, CM was a Canadian rower. Born in Buffalo, his parents moved to St. Catharines, Ontario, when Campbell was around one year old. He started his rowing career with the St. Catharines Rowing Club in 1952, as a heavyweight oarsman. He competed in the Coxless Four at the 1964 Summer Olympics, and the Eight at the 1968 Summer Olympics.
Michael Scott McKay, OAM, known as Mike McKay, is an Australian rower, a four-time world champion, a four-time Olympic medallist and Commonwealth Games gold medallist. From 1990 to 1998 he was a member of Australia's prominent world class crew – the coxless four known as the Oarsome Foursome.
The University of Toronto Rowing Club (UTRC) was founded on February 10, 1897 and represents the Varsity Blues at local and international regattas. It is the oldest university rowing club in Canada.
Jaime Francisco Fernandez is an Australian former rower. He was a national champion, a three-time Olympian and an Australian representative at five World Rowing Championships. He won a silver medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics in the men's eight.
Kate Elizabeth Slatter OAM is an Australian former rower, a sixteen time national champion, world champion and Olympic champion from Adelaide, South Australia. She is a three-time Olympian who in 1996 won Australia's first Olympic gold in women's rowing.
Dudley Leonard Storey was a New Zealand rower who won two Olympic medals.
Leslie James O'Connell is a retired New Zealand rower who won an Olympic gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, USA.
Lesley Allison Thompson-Willie is a Canadian rowing coxswain and Olympic champion. Between 1984 and 2016, she has competed at eight Olympic Games, a record for a rower, winning medals in five of them including gold in coxed eight at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.
Lorne Kenneth Loomer was a Canadian competition rower and Olympic champion.
Carol Page Brown is an American rower who competed in the 1976 Summer Olympics. She was also a member of the 1980 Olympic team women's eight that did not compete in the Moscow Olympic Games due to the US-led boycott. She was a member of the 1984 Olympic team in Los Angeles.
Andrew Dollman Cooper is a former Australian Olympic Champion and World Champion rower. He is a national champion, dual Olympian and two-time World Champion who achieved success as a member of Australia's "Oarsome Foursome" in 1991 and 1992.
Allan Douglas "Jack" Horan is a former rower who competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics as a representative of New Zealand.
Yasmin Farooq is an American rowing cox and the head coach of the University of Washington women's rowing team. She graduated from Waupun High School in 1984 at Waupun, Wisconsin. She attended the University of Wisconsin where she joined the rowing team in 1984 as a coxswain. She was a member of the 1986 national champion JV eight and served as captain and MVP of the team her senior year. In 2021, Farooq was inducted into the Wisconsin Athletics Hall of Fame.
Robert Whitla Richards was a Canadian rower who competed in the 1930 British Empire Games, where he won a gold medal alongside his cousin Elswood Bole. A native of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Richards won the Canadian national championships in the double sculls six times between 1928 and 1950, but missed qualifying for the Summer Olympics in 1932. He also had a term as president of his Winnipeg Rowing Club. By career he was a stockbroker and he served in the Canadian Army during World War II. He was inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame and Museum in 1988.
Hannes Ocik is a German representative rower. He is a three-time world champion, an Olympic silver medallist and a five time gold medal winner at European Rowing Championships in the German senior men's eight—the Deutschlandachter. He has stroked the German eight consistently since 2015 including their three world championship wins and also at the 2017 World Rowing Cup II when the Deutschlandachter set a world's best time of 5.18.68, still the standing world mark as of 2021.
The 1972 New Zealand eight was a team of Olympic gold medallists in rowing from New Zealand, having previously won the 1971 European Rowing Championships. At the time, the eight was regarded as the blue ribbon class of rowing, and the sport still had amateur-status in New Zealand, unlike many other nations competing in rowing. After a disappointing Olympic performance at the 1968 Summer Olympics by the New Zealand eight, national selectors Rusty Robertson, Don Rowlands, and Fred Strachan were tasked with assembling a new crew. Robertson was also the team's coach. The next time a New Zealand eight competed was at the 1970 World Rowing Championships, where they came third. The team was once again significantly changed for the next rowing season, with the 1971 edition of the European Rowing Championships and other international regattas beforehand seen as the ultimate test for the 1972 Summer Olympics. The team put up an impressive performance, beat the highly favoured East German eight, and became European champion; at the time the win was regarded to hold world championship status. No further changes were made to the team, not even their seating position, for the 1972 season. Despite a shoe-string budget, financial constraints, and all rowers working part-time, the 1971 success was repeated and the team won Olympic gold in Munich. The president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Avery Brundage, was a zealous advocate of amateurism; he was so impressed by the New Zealand performance that he insisted on handing out the gold medals himself. During the medal ceremony, much to almost everybody's surprise, "God Defend New Zealand" was played instead of the national anthem, "God Save the Queen". It was the impetus for a campaign to make "God Defend New Zealand" the New Zealand anthem, and in 1977 it was gazetted as having equal status to the traditional anthem.
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