| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Birth name | Leslie James O'Connell [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 23 May 1958 Timaru, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 193 cm (6 ft 4 in) [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 89 kg (196 lb) [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Rowing | ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Avon Rowing Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Leslie James O'Connell (born 23 May 1958) is a retired New Zealand rower who won an Olympic gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, USA.
O'Connell was born in 1958 in Timaru, New Zealand. [1] He grew up in the town and started a carpentry apprenticeship in 1974. [2] [3] Since 1990, he has lived in Christchurch. [2]
O'Connell learned to row on Saltwater Creek in Timaru, and in Timaru Harbour. [4] In 1978, he was New Zealand champion with Chris Booker in the double sculls for the Timaru Rowing Club. [3] He moved to Christchurch in 1990 so that he could train with the Avon Rowing Club, at the time one of the three main rowing clubs in the country. [2]
At the 1982 World Rowing Championships at Rotsee, Switzerland, he won a gold medal with the New Zealand eight seated in the bow. [5] At the end of that year, the 1982 rowing eight crew was named sportsman of the year. [6] O'Connell then changed to a coxed four and at the 1983 World Rowing Championships in Duisburg, Germany, he won gold with Conrad Robertson, Greg Johnston, Keith Trask, and Brett Hollister as cox. [7] He qualified for the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and was put in a coxless four (the coxed four is not included as an Olympic event), and teamed with Shane O'Brien, Conrad Robertson, and Keith Trask. Helped by the absence of the Eastern Bloc countries including the favourites from the Soviet Union and East Germany, the New Zealand coxless four won an unexpected gold medal. [8] At the 1985 World Rowing Championships at Hazewinkel in Belgium, he came fourth with the coxless four. [9]
O'Connell won further national championships in 1984 (coxless pair) and 1986 (coxless four). [10]
The 1982 men's eight team was inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame in 1995. [11] In 2013, The Timaru Herald had a campaign to have missing sports personalities added to Timaru's Hall of Fame, and O'Connell received the most votes from readers of the newspaper. [3] [4] As of October 2016, O'Connell has not been added to their Hall of Fame. [12]
O'Connell registered a construction company in November 1990 [13] and started operating in 1992. [2]
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.
Dudley Leonard Storey was a New Zealand rower who won two Olympic medals.
David Marsden Rodger is a former New Zealand rower who won an Olympic bronze medal.
Brett James Hollister is a former New Zealand rowing cox who won an Olympic bronze medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Since 2004, he had held management positions for rugby union and is the current chief executive officer of the North Harbour Rugby Union
Shane Joseph O'Brien is a former New Zealand rower who won an Olympic gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California, USA.
Conrad Christian Robertson is a former New Zealand rower who won an Olympic Gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Keith Charles Trask is a former New Zealand rower who won an Olympic gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
George Keys is a former New Zealand rower who won an Olympic Bronze medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.
Ian Andrew Wright is a former New Zealand rower who won an Olympic bronze medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. Wright has won 31 national titles during his career. After his rowing career ended, he became a coach and his Swiss lightweight men's four team won gold at the 2016 Summer Olympics. He is now Australia's head rowing coach announced in September 2016. He immediately coached the Australian men's four to a gold medal at the 2017 world rowing championships.
Peter Gregory Johnston, known as Greg Johnston, is a former New Zealand rower who won an Olympic bronze medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. During his rowing career, Johnston has won 26 national championship titles in rowing, and was world champion in 1983 in the coxed four event.
Andrew Dollman Cooper, OAM 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.
Christopher Sherratt White is a former New Zealand rower and Olympic Bronze medallist at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. He is described as "one of the giants of New Zealand rowing" and with 38 national titles, holds the record for most domestic rowing titles in New Zealand.
Allan Douglas "Jack" Horan is a former rower who competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics as a representative of New Zealand.
Eric Gordon Murray is a retired New Zealand rower and gold medalist at the 2012 London Olympic Games, as well as at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games. He won six consecutive World Rowing Championship gold medals in the coxless pair plus two other gold medals in the coxless four and coxed pair, and set two world best times.
Paul Anthony Thompson MBE is an Australian elite level rowing coach and former rower. As a rower he was an Australian under-age champion, won a silver medal at the 1985 U23 World Championships and rowed in senior King's Cup eights for both South Australia and New South Wales. He has coached Australian and British crews to World Championship titles and Olympic medals including taking Kate Slatter and Megan Still to Australia's first women's Olympic rowing gold at Atlanta 1996. By 2012 he was Great Britain's head coach for women and lightweights and took British crews to three gold and two silver medals at London 2012.
Andrew Stevenson, also known as Herb Stevenson, is a former New Zealand rower.
Andrew Gerald Ogilvie Hay is a former New Zealand rowing cox.
The 1982 New Zealand eight was a double world champion team of rowers. The team won some significant awards for its successes.
David Edward Lindstrom is a New Zealand rower.
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Allison Roe | New Zealand Sportsman of the Year 1982 With: Tony Brook, George Keys, Dave Rodger, Mike Stanley, Andrew Stevenson, Chris White, Roger White-Parsons, Andy Hay | Succeeded by Chris Lewis |
