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| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 23 June 1984 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Relative | Cara Feain-Ryan (cousin) [1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Rowing | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Matthew Ryan (born 23 June 1984 in Sydney) is a retired Australian rower, a dual Olympian and Olympic medal winner. Ryan competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics, where he won a silver medal in Coxless four. [2] In London 2012 he rowed in the Australian men's eight which placed 6th.
Ryan began his rowing at The King's School, Parramatta and was in the school's 1st VIIIs of 2001 [3] and 2002 [4] who won the AAGPS Head of the River. [5] The 2001 crew contained future Australian senior national rowers Nicholas Hudson and Sam Loch, and went on to win the Barrington Cup and be crowned National Schoolboy champions. [6] The 2001 crew won the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup at the 2001 Henley Royal Regatta.
In 2005, Ryan was part of the Sydney University Boat Club crew who won the QL Deloitte Trophy as the Champion VIII of New South Wales, breaking a four-year winning streak of UTS Haberfield Rowing Club. [7] It was the start of a 10-year winning streak for the Sydney University Boat Club in this event from 2005 to 2014.
Ryan was part of the successful New South Wales Kings Cup crew who had a breakthrough win in 2008, defeating holders Victoria by just 0.21 seconds. [8] It was the start of a 7-year winning streak for New South Wales in this event, with Ryan being a member of the crew every year.
Ryan was first selected to compete for Australia in 2002, when he stroked the Australian junior coxed four to a gold medal at the World Junior Championships in Trakai, Lithuania. [9]
Continuing to move through the underage ranks, Ryan was a bronze medallist in 2003 in the Men's VIII at the Nations Cup regatta (now the World Under 23 Championships) in Belgrade, Serbia. [10] The following year, Ryan returned to the top of the podium at the World Under 23 Regatta in Poznan, Poland in an all-New South Wales, coxed four. [11]
In 2005, Ryan made in debut in the senior Australian team, placing 9th at the World Championships in Gifu, Japan. [12] The following year, Ryan placed 4th as part of the Men's Eight in Eton, United Kingdom. [13] The next year in Munich, Germany, Ryan's crew placed 2nd in the B Final of the Men's VIII behind Russia to place 8th overall. This was later improved to a 7th placing overall due to the members of the Russian crew failing doping tests. [14]
Ryan made his Olympic debut in 2008 in Beijing, China. Rowing Australia had originally selected the coxless pair and eight as the priority sweep rowing crews as they had already qualified for the Olympic Games from the results at the World Championships the previous year. Ryan was selected in the Coxless Four alongside fellow Sydney University Boat Club member Francis Hegerty, as well as Victorians, James Marburg and Cameron McKenzie-McHarg. The crew won their event at the first world cup regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland. The crew then turned their attention to the Olympic Qualification Regatta in Poznan. Ryan was struck down by illness and had to be replaced for the race by fellow Sydney University Boat Club member Terrence Alfred and the crew achieved qualification for the Olympic Games. [5] In Beijing, the crew led for a large part of the race before placing second behind the race favourites from Great Britain.
In 2009, Ryan was again part of the Australian coxless four who won the silver medal behind Great Britain in Poznan. [15] The following year he moved into the VIII which won Bronze at Lake Karapiro, New Zealand. [16] At the 2011 World Rowing Championships in Bled, Slovenia, Ryan placed fourth as a member of the Men's VIII which qualified the boat for the London Olympic Games. [17]
At the London Olympic Games, Ryan was in the bow seat of the Australian Men's VIII which placed 6th in a thrilling final where all boats finished within a length of each other. [18]
In 2013, Ryan took a break from international competition and during this period set a 24-hour tandem world record on the Concept 2 rowing machine (ergometer) with Sam Loch. The pair covered 380.274 kilometres, maintaining an average split of 1:53.6 per 500 metres. The successful world record attempt was also a fundraiser for the Leukaemia Foundation and raised almost $20,000 AUD for the charity. [19]
Ryan returned to the National Team in 2015 in the Men's VIII . The crew placed 9th at the World Rowing Championships in Aiguebelette, France. [20] [21]
The Adelaide University Boat Club is a rowing club affiliated with the University of Adelaide. The club was founded in 1881, and in 1896 helped to form the Adelaide University Sports Association. The main clubrooms, donated by Robert Barr Smith in 1909, are located on the north bank of the River Torrens on War Memorial Drive, adjacent to the Adelaide University Sports Grounds. The shed has two boat bays, a gym and weights room and a small bar. The club also leases a secondary boatshed at the South Australian Rowing Association complex on Military Road at West Lakes, and also trains regularly at Port Adelaide's North Arm Creek and Murray Bridge. Members have included rowers of all levels, from total beginners to Olympic Gold Medallists. The club shares the nickname "The Blacks" with the Adelaide University Football Club.
Kate Elizabeth Slatter OAM is an Australian former rower, a sixteen time national champion, world champion and Olympic champion from Adelaide, South Australia. She is a three-time Olympian who in 1996 won Australia's first Olympic gold in women's rowing.
Francis Hegerty is a former Australian rower - a national champion and a dual Olympian.
Cameron McKenzie-McHarg is an Australian former rower and Australian rules footballer. He is a dual Olympian who won a rowing silver medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics. He represented Australia at twelve world championships.
James Marburg is an Australian retired rower. He is a dual Olympian, Olympic silver medallist and has represented Australia at five World Rowing Championships.
The Australian Rowing Championships is an annual rowing event that determines Australia's national rowing champions and facilitates selection of Australian representative crews for World Championships and the Olympic Games. It is Australia's premier regatta, with states, clubs and schools sending their best crews. The Championships commence with the National Regatta - men's, women's and lightweight events in open, under 23, under 19, under 17 and school age events. Rowers at the National Regatta race in their local club colours with composite crews permitted. The Championships conclude with the Interstate Regatta - currently eight events competed by state representative crews or scullers selected by the state rowing associations. The states compete for an overall points tally which decides the Zurich Cup.
Robert "Rob" Geoffrey Scott is an Australian businessman and former national champion and national representative rower. Since 2017 he has been Managing Director and Chief Executive of Wesfarmers, the Perth-headquartered publicly listed industrial and retail conglomerate, which in 2016 was Australia's largest company by revenue and Australia's largest employer. As a sweep-oared heavyweight rower Scott was a national champion, an eight-time crewman in West Australian King's Cup eights and a four-time Australian representative at World Rowing Championships. He is a dual Olympian oarsman who won a silver medal in a coxless pair at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
Nick Hudson is an Australian former rower. He was an U23 world champion, an Australian national champion and was a silver medallist at the 2009 World Championships.
Samuel Loch is an Australian former representative rower. A dual Olympian and two time bronze medal winner at World Championships, he has set and holds world records in indoor rowing with times set on the Concept 2 rowing machine.
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Tobias (Toby) Lister is a former Australian rowing coxswain. He is a ten-time Australian national champion, competed in the men's eight at the 2012 London Olympics and won a bronze medal at World Championships in 2010.
Alexander Lloyd in Darlinghurst, Sydney, is an Australian Olympic representative rower.
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Joshua Hicks is an Australian representative rower. He is an Olympian and a two-time world champion who won gold in the coxless four at the 2017 World Rowing Championships and defended that title at Plovdiv in 2018. He competed in the Australian men's coxless pair at Tokyo 2021.
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Katrina Bateman is an Australian former representative rower. She is a ten-time Australian national champion, winning four national titles in the single year of 2015 and rowing in successful Victorian Queen's Cup crews for six consecutive years from 2011-2016. She was twice a medallist at underage world championships and has won gold, silver and bronze medals at World Rowing Cups between 2013 and 2019.
