| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Birth name | Keith Charles Trask [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 27 November 1960 [1] Hastings, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | carpenter | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 190 cm (6 ft 3 in) [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 95 kg (209 lb) [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Rowing | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | North Shore Rowing Club | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Keith Charles Trask (born 27 November 1960) is a former New Zealand rower who won an Olympic gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Trask was born in 1960 in Hastings, New Zealand. [1] Trask has a twin brother Paul. Their parents are Charles (died 2015) and Maureen Trask. [2] They received their education in Hastings; first at Mayfair School and then at Hastings Intermediate. [2]
Trask was selected to compete at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow with the coxed four but did not compete due to the Olympics boycott. [3] He believes that he missed out being selected for the New Zealand eight in 1982 despite being "good enough to be there"; the team went on to win gold at the 1982 World Rowing Championships at Rotsee in Switzerland without him. [2] In 1983, he moved from the Hawke's Bay to Auckland so that he could join the North Shore Rowing Club to increase his chances to get picked for a national team. [2]
In 1983 the crew of Conrad Robertson, Greg Johnston, Keith Trask, Les O'Connell, and Brett Hollister (cox) won the coxed four in Duisburg at the World Championships. [4] Along with Les O'Connell, Shane O'Brien and Conrad Robertson he won gold in the coxless four at the 1984 Olympics at Lake Casitas in California. [5] In 1986, Trask teamed with Eric Verdonk for the pairs and became New Zealand national champion. [2]
He later was a rowing coach for the North Shore Rowing Club, and currently coaches at Westlake Boys High School. [3]
Trask is married to Serena, and they have three children (one son and two daughters) born between 1984 and 1987. They live in Auckland, where Trask works as a carpenter. [2] He became self employed in 1999 when he founded his company, Keith Trask Limited. [6] In 2009, he competed in ocean swimming. [7]
