| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | 8 June 1976 Perth, Western Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years active | 1990–2004 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country | Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Rowing | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Curtin University Rowing Club | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Glen Loftus (born 8 June 1976 in Perth, Western Australia) is an Australian former lightweight rower. He was a national champion, an U23 world champion and an Olympic silver medalist. In competitive retirement he was a coach and a rowing administrator in Western Australia.
Loftus was educated at Wesley College, Perth where he took up rowing in 1990. His senior club rowing was from the Curtin University Rowing Club from 1994 until his retirement in 2004. He won eight West Australian state titles in sculls and sweep-oared boats and was acknowledged as Western Australian Oarsman of the Year in 1998 and 2001.
In 1995, 1997 and from 1999 to 2004 Loftus was selected to represent Western Australia in the men's lightweight four contesting the Penrith Cup at the Interstate Regatta within the Australian Rowing Championships. [1] He stroked those West Australian fours from 1999 to 2004, including the victorious crew of 2002. [2]
In Curtin University colours he contested national championship titles at the Australian Rowing Championships on numerous occasions. He won the 1999 lightweight double-scull national title [3] and in 2001 and 2002 he won the lightweight coxless pair national championship. [4]
Loftus made his Australian representative debut with his West Australian team-mate Tom Atkins in the U23 lightweight coxless four who won gold at the 1996 World Rowing U23 Championships in Hazewinkel, Belgium. [5] The following year at the 1997 U23 World Championships in Milan, Loftus rowed to a silver medal in the lightweight double scull with Karl Parker from New South Wales. [5]
In 2000 Loftus made his first representative appearance in the senior Australian lightweight squad, competing at the World Rowing Cup III in the lightweight eight. Then at the 2000 World Rowing Championships in Zagreb he stroked the Australian lightweight eight to a bronze medal. [5] The following year Loftus held his leadership role as stroke of both the men's lightweight eight and the coxless four. He competed in the four at World Rowing Cup IV that year in Munich, and for the 2001 World Championships in Lucerne he stroked the Australian coxless four to a ninth placing and the eight who finished sixth overall. [5]
In 2002 in a crew with the veteran Tasmanian lightweight Simon Burgess, Loftus stroked the coxless four at a World Rowing Cup in Munich and at the 2002 World Rowing Championships in Seville to a fourth placing. [5] In 2003 Loftus kept his seat in the lightweight coxless four for the World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne, where the Australian finished in sixth place. For the 2003 World Rowing Championships in Milan, Loftus moved into the twoo seat and Tim O'Callaghan stroked the four. They missed the A final, winning the B final for an overall seventh placing. [5]
For the Athens Olympics 2004 Loftus was in the bow seat of Australian lightweight coxless four. He raced with Ben Cureton his longstanding West Australian partner with whom he'd won national titles and competed at World Championships, along with Simon Burgess and Anthony Edwards who were both making their third Olympic appearances. They qualified through to the final where the Danish favourites got away in the 1st 500m. Burgess at stroke brought the Australian four back into contention in the second and third 500 metres. However the Danes still had something in reserve in the rush home extending their lead to 1.4 seconds at the finish. Loftus and the Australians won the Olympic silver. [6]
Following retirement from competitive rowing, Loftus joined Fremantle Rowing Club as Senior Coach from 2006 through until 2011. During this time he was recognised by Rowing WA as Western Australia's 2010 Club Coach of the Year.
In October 2012 Loftus was appointed to the board of Rowing WA. He was responsible for the advancement of High Performance rowing in Western Australia from 2012 to 2016.
Anthony John Edwards is an Australian former lightweight rower. He is a five time Olympian, triple Olympic medallist, a world champion and a six-time Australian national champion. He represented Australia at the premier world regattas consistently over a twenty-year period from 1993 to 2012.
Ross Brown is an Australian former national and world champion lightweight rower.
Simon Burgess is an Australian national champion, two-time World Champion, three-time Olympian and dual Olympic silver medal-winning lightweight rower. He represented Australia ten times at World Rowing Championships between 1990 and 2002. He won world and national championships in both sculls and in sweep-oared boat classes during an eighteen-year elite level career.
Benjamin Cureton is an Australian former lightweight rower. He was an eight-time national champion, a world champion and a three-time Olympian. He won his world championship in the men's lightweight fours, and an Olympic silver medal in that boat class in Athens 2004. He competed at two further Olympics in this discipline. For a twelve-year period from 2001 – excepting 2009 and 2010 – Cureton held his seat in all the Australian lightweight coxless fours selected to race at the premier world regattas.
Paul Reedy is an Australian former rower. He is a dual Olympian, an Olympic and Commonwealth Games silver medalist who competed over a seventeen-year period at the elite level. He was a fourteen-time Australian national champion across both sculling and sweep-oared boats and then coached six Australian crews to national championship titles. He later coached at the London Rowing Club and was appointed as British national Head Coach from 2009. He took Great Britain's lightweight women's sculling crews to Olympic and World Championship gold medals in 2012 and 2016.
Bruce Hick is an Australian national champion, three time World Champion and dual Olympian lightweight rower. He represented Australia over a fifteen-year period and rowed at ten World Rowing Championships.
Jodi Winter is an Australian rower, a two-time World Champion and a dual Olympian.
Martino Goretti is an Italian representative lightweight rower, a current (2019) world champion and a dual Olympian. He has represented at senior World Rowing Championships and World Rowing Cups consistently from 2005 to 2019. He is a four time world champion at the senior level who won three titles in Italian lightweight eights from 2005 to 2009 and then in 2019 won the lightweight single scull world title. He had previously won underage world championships as a junior and an U23.
Samuel Beltz is an Australian former lightweight rower. He is a 16-time national champion, a world champion and dual Olympian. He competed at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics and represented Australia at the premier world class regattas over a fifteen-year period from 1999 to 2014.
Todd Skipworth is an Australian former lightweight rower and triathlete. He was a nine-time national champion rower, a world champion and dual Olympian. His 2011 rowing world championship was won in the men's lightweight coxless four and he competed in that boat class at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics.
Thomas Gibson is an Australian lightweight rower. He is a twelve-time Australian national champion, a world champion and a dual Olympian.
Roger Arthur Ninham was an Australian Olympian stillwater rower, a surfboat rower and surfcraft boat builder. As a stillwater rower he was a four-time national champion across both sculling and sweep-oared boats and competed at two Olympic Games.
Molly Goodman is an Australian rower. She is a national champion, a dual Olympian and a world champion winning the 2017 world title in a coxless four. She stroked the Australian eight to victory in the Remenham Challenge Cup at the 2018 Henley Royal Regatta. She stroked the Australian women's eight at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Rob Mitchell is an Australian lightweight rower. He is a former world champion and an Australian national champion. He won a gold medal at the 1997 World Rowing Championships in Aiguebelette with the lightweight men's eight.
Blair Tunevitsch is an Australian former lightweight rower – a five time national champion and world champion. He won a gold medal at the 2011 World Rowing Championships in Bled with the lightweight men's eight.
Alister Foot is an Australian world champion lightweight rower. He won a gold medal at the 2011 World Rowing Championships in Bled in the lightweight men's eight.
Darryn Purcell is an Australian former national and world champion lightweight rower. He won a gold medal at the 2011 World Rowing Championships in Bled with the lightweight men's eight.
Josephine Lips is an Australian former representative rower. She was a national champion and 2001 World champion.
Perry Ward is an Australian national representative lightweight rower. He rowed in Western Australia's state selection lightweight crew for thirteen consecutive years from 2006 to 2018, winning the national title on four occasions. He represented Australia at eight senior and U23 world championships, stroking every crew in which he was selected and winning a silver medal at the 2010 World Rowing Championships.
Hamish Parry is a former Australian representative lightweight rower. He was a nine-time national champion in both sculling and sweep-oared crews and has sculled at underage and senior world championships from 2013 to 2021.
