history of australian rowing at olympic games

Australia's Representation at the Olympic Games

Olympiad & Host City	Year	Nations Competing	Team Size	General Manager	Flag Bearer	Rowing Manager	Medals				Rowing
Olympiad & Host City	Year	Nations Competing	Team Size	General Manager	Flag Bearer	Rowing Manager	G	S	B	Tot	G	S	B	Tot
I—Athens	1896	13	1		-		2			2				0
II—Paris	1900	22	2		-		3		4	7				0
III—St Louis	1904	13	2		-									0
Athens (1)	1906	20	4		-				3	3				0
IV—London	1908	22 (2)	25	W Hill	Henry St A Murray (NZ)		1	2	1	4				0
V—Stockholm	1912	28 (2)	22	V Horniman	Malcolm Champion (NZ)		2	2	2	6				0
VI—no games (3)	1916				-
VII—Antwerp	1920	29	13	HA Bennett	-			2	1	3				0
VIII—Paris	1924	44	38	O Merrett	Edwin Carr		3	1	2	6				0
IX—Amsterdam	1928	46	18	LG Duff	Robert Pearce (rower)		1	2	1	4	1			1
X—Los Angeles	1932	37	12	JSW Eve	Andrew Charlton		3	1	1	5	1			1
XI—Berlin	1936	49	34	HG Alderson	Edgar Gray				1	1				0
XII & XIII—no games (4)	1940 1944				-
XIV—London	1948	59	77	E Tanner	Les Mackay		2	6	5	13	1			1
XV—Helsinki	1952	69	85	W Uren	Merv Wood (rower)	JR Berkery	6	2	3	11		1	1	2
XVI—Melbourne	1956	67	291	W Uren	Merv Wood (rower)	WRB Todd	13	8	14	35		1	2	3
XVII—Rome	1960	83	211	S Grange	Alex Sturrock	RG Blundstone	8	8	6	22				0
XVIII—Tokyo	1964	93	255	L Curnow	Ivan Lund	A McLeish	6	2	10	18				0
XIX—Mexico City	1968	112	113	J Patching	Bill Roycroft	RC Hemery	5	7	5	17		1		1
XX—Munich	1972	122	170	J Patching	Dennis Green	RC Hemery	8	7	2	17				0
XXI—Montreal	1976	92	185	J Howson	Rarlene Boyle	JD Coates		1	4	5				0
XXII—Moscow	1980	81 (5)	125	P Coles	D Boyd/M Metzker	JF Boultbee	2	2	5	9				0
XXIII—Los Angeles	1984	142	250	W Hoffman	Wayne Roycroft	DG Croot	4	11	12	27		1	2	3
XXIV—Seoul	1988	160	267	JD Coates	Ric Charlesworth	S Hinchy	3	6	5	14				0
XXV—Barcelona	1992	172	290	JD Coates	Jenny Donnet	AN Guerin	7	9	11	27	2			2
XXVI—Atlanta	1996	197	417	JD Coates	Andrew Hoy	AN Guerin	9	9	23	41	2	1	3	6
XXVII—Sydney	2000	199	628	JD Coates	Andrew Gaze	M Eastaughffe	16	25	17	58		3	3	6
XXVIII — Athens	2004	201	482	JD Coates	Colin Beashel	W Diplock	17	16	16	49	1	1	2	4
XXIX - Beijing	2008	204	433	JD Coates	James Tomkins (rower)	R Ebert	14	15	17	46	2	1		3
XXX - London	2012	205	410	N Green	Lauren Jackson	R Ebert	8	15	12	35	0	3	2	5
XXXI - Rio de Janeiro	2016	207	421	K Chiller	Anna Meares	R Ebert	8	11	10	29	1	2		3
XXXII - Tokyo	2020⁶		486	I Chesterman	Patty Mills & Cate Campbell	W Diplock					2	0	2	4

Notes:
(1) Tenth anniversary celebration sanctioned by the IOC.
(2) Competed with New Zealand as Australasia. Figures do not include New Zealanders.
(3) The 1916 Games were awarded to Berlin but cancelled due to the war.
(4) The 1940 Games were awarded to Tokyo but were cancelled due to war. Initially they were transferred to Helsinki before being cancelled. The 1944 Games were awarded to London but again cancelled due to war.
(5) Figures do not include those athletes who withdrew over the boycott issue.
(6) Conducted in 2021 due to a postponement due to the COVID 19 pandemic but officially known as Tokyo 2020.

Rowers have been the general manager at the Stockholm, Montreal, Seoul, Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney, Athens and Beijing Games.

Whilst every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information provided, errors may exist. Please send advice of any errors or inaccuracies by email to:

Also your comments, suggestions and photos are sought to enhance this site.

The idea for this history originated from the Olympic Rowing and World Senior Rowing Championship histories written by Andrew Guerin and Margot Foster in 1991, 1992 & 1993 for the Australian team handbooks. Andrew Guerin developed and extended these histories to the current format in 2004 for publication in 2004 and then expanded the site.

Steve Roll has been an invaluable contributor to the website in locating errors and finding Christian names of rowers. His superb work is acknowledged.

© Andrew Guerin – 2004
These contents of this history are copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted by the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. However given that the purpose of the history is to assist rowers and rowing clubs, written permission is not required for non-commercial usage by rowers and rowing clubs provided acknowledgement is made.

Disclaimer: Whilst extensive efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of the information supplied, the editors take no responsibility for any loss or damage whatsoever arising from inaccuracies contained in this work.

Australia's Representation at the Olympic Games

Australian Rowing at Olympic & Paralympic Games