Robert Norman Waddell is a New Zealand Olympic Gold Medalist and double World Champion Single sculler rower, and America's Cup yachtsman. He is a triple New Zealand Supreme 'Halberg Awards' Sportsperson of the year winner, 1998 to 2000. He holds the third fastest 2000 metre indoor rowing machine time in the world, clocking a time of 5 mins 36.6 secs (5:36.6), which was the previous world record for 19 years before the time was improved by Joshua Dunkley-Smith. He also held the record for 5000m on the rowing machine with a time of 14min 58sec. This made him the first person to go below 15 min for this distance. He holds a black belt in judo. He played rugby union for Waikato. Waddell was Chef de Mission of the 2014 and 2018 New Zealand Commonwealth Games teams, and the 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics.
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.
Dame Katherine Jane Grainger is a Scottish former rower and current Chair of UK Sport. She is a 2012 Summer Olympics gold medallist, four-time Olympic silver medallist and six-time World Champion for Great Britain. She served as Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University between 2015 and 2020 and is currently Chancellor of the University of Glasgow.
The magic 45 minutes describes the duration of one of the most rewarding sporting periods in the history of New Zealand during which four New Zealand rowing teams won gold medals in four successive finals to be the most successful country at the 2005 World Rowing Championships in Gifu, Japan.
Rowing New Zealand is the sports governing body for rowing in New Zealand. Its purpose is to provide leadership and support to enable an environment of success for the New Zealand rowing community. This includes secondary schools, clubs, masters, universities and high performance.
Peter K. Reed OBE is a retired British Olympic rower. Reed is a three-times Olympic gold medallist – earning gold in the Men's coxless four at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, and then a gold medal in the Men's eight at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. He has also won five gold medals and three silver medals at the World Championships.
Frances Houghton MBE is a 5 time Olympic rower (2000–2016), 4 times World Champion and 3 times Olympic Silver medallist.
Matthew Langridge is a British rower. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London he was part of the British crew that won the bronze medal in the men's eight. He was the 2015 European Champion in the men's pair, along with James Foad. At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro he was part of the British crew that won the gold medal in the men's eight.
Allar Raja is an Estonian rower. He is a member of rowing club SK Kalev located in Pärnu.
Robert Nathan Twaddle is a New Zealand former rower and Olympic medallist. He competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, in the coxless pair rowing with his partner George Bridgewater and won a bronze medal.
Richard Scott Chambers is a British rower, and is the brother of fellow rower Peter Chambers. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London he was part of the British crew that won the silver medal in the lightweight men's four.
Kaspar Taimsoo is an Estonian rower. He is a four time Olympian and four time European champion. He is a member of Viljandi Rowing Club.
Nathan Phillip Cohen is a New Zealand rower. He is a two-time world champion, and won a gold medal in the Olympics. In 2006, rowing a single scull, he won a gold medal at the World University Games. In doing so, he became the first New Zealander to win a gold medal at the World University Games in any sport. Cohen and his rowing partner, Joseph Sullivan, won back-to-back gold medals in the men's double sculls at both the 2010 and 2011 World Rowing Championships. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, he and his partner won the gold medal in the men's double sculls, after breaking the Olympic best time in the heats. In 2013, Cohen was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to rowing.
Lauritz Schoof is a German rower. He was part of the German crew that won the gold medal in the men's quadruple sculls at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. He also successfully defended the quadruple sculls title at the 2016 Rio Olympics as part of the German team.
Eve Macfarlane is a New Zealand rower. Described as a "natural rower", she went to the 2009 World Rowing Junior Championships within a few months of having taken up rowing and won a silver medal. She represented New Zealand at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London as the country's youngest Olympian at those games. She was the 2015 world champion in the women's double sculls with Zoe Stevenson. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, they came fourth in the semi-finals and thus missed the A final.
Melanie Wilson is a British rower who competed for the GB rowing team. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she competed in the Women's quadruple sculls. At the 2016 Summer Olympics she won a silver medal in the women's eight.
Jade Uru is a New Zealand rower.
John Storey is a New Zealand rower. He competed at the Olympics in 2012 and 2016, and won a world championship title in double scull in 2017 alongside Chris Harris. Storey announced his retirement from international rowing in April 2021.
Nathan Flannery is a New Zealand rower who started with the sport in 2006. He qualified in 2016 to row in the New Zealand's men's quadruple scull. At the Olympic qualifying regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland, in May 2016—the last chance to qualify for the 2016 Olympics—they came third behind teams from Russia and Canada, and thus did not qualify. After a positive doping test returned by Russian crew member Sergey Fedorovtsev, the Russian team was disqualified by the world rowing federation and the New Zealand team was assigned an Olympic quota spot. For the competition in Rio, Flannery replaced Robbie Manson in the bow. The other two team mates are George Bridgewater and Jade Uru.
