Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Full name | Ian Gordon Ferguson | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Nickname(s) | Ferg | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Taumarunui, New Zealand | 20 June 1952|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Relatives | Steven Ferguson (son) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Country | New Zealand | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Canoe racing | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Event(s) | canoe sprint | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Partner | Paul MacDonald | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Olympic finals | 1980, 1984, 1988, 1992 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Ian Gordon Ferguson MBE (born 20 July 1952) is New Zealand's second most successful Olympian. He won four Olympic gold medals competing in K1, K2, and K4 kayak events, and attended five Summer Olympics between 1976 and 1992. He also won two canoe sprint world championship titles.
Ferguson was born in Taumarunui on 20 July 1952, the son of Gilbert and Winsome Ferguson. [1] He was educated at Palmerston North Boys' High School, [1] and was an all-round sportsperson, achieving in running and rugby union, and becoming the school swimming champion. [2] Ferguson studied at Victoria University of Wellington, completing a Bachelor of Commerce and Administration degree in 1976. [1]
In 1973, Ferguson married his wife, Alyson, and the couple went on to have two children. [1]
At the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles he won three gold medals. In the same year he was named New Zealand sportsperson of the year. [3]
In the 1985 New Year Honours, Ferguson was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire, for services to canoeing. [4]
New Zealand's flagbearer at the opening ceremony of the 1988 Summer Olympics, [3] he went on to win another gold medal and a silver medal at that Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea. He was the first New Zealander to compete in five Olympic Games and his four gold medals was the New Zealand record for an individual haul at the Games until beaten by fellow canoeist Lisa Carrington in 2021. His five Olympic medals is the second-highest number of Olympic medals won by a New Zealander, a record he shares with fellow canoeist Paul MacDonald and equestrian Mark Todd. [5]
In 1990 Ferguson started a kayak retail and hire business named Ferg's Kayaks. [2]
Ferguson also starred in the NZ TV show Clash of the Codes , having been in the winning team on two occasions.
In 2009, Ferguson began fronting a campaign to build an international whitewater canoeing stadium in Manukau City. [6] Vector Wero Whitewater Park was opened in 2016, with Ferguson as general manager. [7] [8] [9]
Ferguson's son, Steven Ferguson, has also represented New Zealand at the Olympic and Commonwealth Games, both in canoeing and swimming events.
Ben Fouhy is a New Zealand flatwater and marathon canoeist who has been competing since the early 2000s. Competing in three Summer Olympics, he won the silver in the K-1 1000 m event at Athens in 2004, as well as finishing fourth in the 2008 Olympics and ninth in the 2012 Olympics in the same event. He is the recipient of the 2003 Halberg Award for NZ Sportsman of the Year and a former world record holder in the K1 1000m event.
Gert Fridolf Fredriksson was a Swedish sprint canoeist. Competing in four Summer Olympics, he won eight medals including six golds, one silver, and one bronze. At the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Fredriksson was head coach of the Swedish team.
Zoltán Kammerer is a Hungarian sprint canoeist who has competed since the mid-1990s. Competing in five Summer Olympics, he won three gold medals and a silver medal.
Botond Storcz is a retired Hungarian sprint canoeist. He competed at the 2000 and 2004 Olympics and won three gold medals. He also won eleven medals at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships with four golds, five silvers, and two bronzes.
György "Kolo" Kolonics was a Hungarian sprint canoeist who won two gold and two bronze medals at four Summer Olympics. He also won a record fifteen gold medals at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships. He died from cardiac arrest while preparing for his fifth Olympics.
Juraj Bača is a Slovak sprint canoeist who competed from 1998 to 2005. Competing in two Summer Olympics, he won a bronze medal in the K-4 1000 m event at Athens in 2004.
Due Drop Events Centre is a multi-purpose event centre located in Manukau, Auckland, New Zealand, with an indoor arena, theatre and meeting halls hosting community, cultural and sports events, concerts and plays, exhibits, trade fairs and expos, corporate functions, meetings, weddings and other special events. The event centre has cost an estimated NZ$ 48.7 million, of which somewhat less than half came from Manukau City Council. The naming rights sponsor was Vodafone, New Zealand. but after it was purchased by Due Drop Foundation, the center was subsequently renamed.
Christopher Paul MacDonald is a New Zealand sprint canoeist who competed from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s. He is widely regarded as one of New Zealand's most successful international athletes and holds innumerable international speed records in canoeing.
Alan Blair Thompson is a sprint canoeist who competed in the early to mid-1980s. He competed at three Olympic Games (1980–1988) and won two Olympic gold medals for New Zealand.
Grant Bramwell is a sprint canoeist who competed in the 1980s. Competing in two Summer Olympics, he won a gold medal in the K-4 1000 m at Los Angeles in 1984 with Alan Thompson, Ian Ferguson and Paul MacDonald. Bramwell also won a K-1 10000 m bronze at the 1985 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Mechelen.
Detlef Hofmann is a German sprint canoeist who competed from the late 1980s to the late 1990s. He won a gold medal in the K-4 1000 m event at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
Alexander Grimm is a German slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 2002.
Fabien Lefèvre is a French slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 1998]. As a permanent resident of the United States, he has competed for his country of residence since 2013. He represented France until 2011. He won two medals at the Summer Olympics in the K1 event with a silver in 2008 and a bronze in 2004. He has a son called Noe Lefèvre.
Danuta Kozák is a Hungarian sprint canoeist. She has won one silver, one bronze and six Olympic gold medals, three of which in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, making her the only female to win K1, K2 and K4 at the same Olympics. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, she won a gold medal in Women's K-4 500 metres, and bronze medal in Women's K-2 500 metres.
Scott R. Shipley is an American slalom canoeist who competed at the international level from 1988 to 2004.
Sébastien Combot is a French slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 2005.
The following outline is provided as an overview of canoeing and kayaking:
Dame Lisa Marie Carrington is a flatwater canoeist and New Zealand's most successful Olympian, having won a total of five gold medals and one bronze medal. She won three consecutive gold medals in the Women's K‑1 200 metres at the 2012 Summer Olympics, 2016 Summer Olympics and 2020 Summer Olympics, as well as gold in the same event at the 2011 Canoe Sprint World Championships. At the 2020 Summer Olympics she also won a gold medal in the K‑2 500 metres, with crewmate Caitlin Regal, and as an individual in the K‑1 500 metres.
Teneale Hatton is a New Zealand flatwater canoer.
Jacques Rousseau was a French slalom canoeist who competed in the late 1940s. He won two gold medals at the 1949 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships in Geneva, earning them in the C-2 event and the C-2 team event.