Olympic Selection for Australia

A series of three selection regattas that began in December last year ended on Sunday with 44 rowers being named for the Athens Olympic team. The process, which began with 173 athletes, involved over 800 individual performances and will start the next phase in training for Rowing Australia’s national team.

After the 2003 World Championships Australia qualified 12 out of a possible 14 boats for the Olympics. Along with Germany, Australia has succeeded the most number of boats to date. Australia will aim to qualify the remaining two events, the women’s pair and women’s single, at the final qualifying regatta in Switzerland in June.

Rowing Australia’s media officer, Michael Wilson said the trials had seen an unprecedented level of competition for selection. It included the return of a number of former Olympic athletes including Bo Hanson, Geoff Stewart and Mike McKay who will make up part of the men’s eight. Hanson and Stewart both won bronze in 2000 before retiring while McKay has two gold and one silver Olympic medal. This will be McKay’s fifth Olympic Games.

Also selected for the men’s eight are Stewart’s twin brother, James and younger brother Stephen.

Duncan Free will be heading to his third Olympic Games and will leave the event he has dominated in Australia for the last two years, the single, and join his country’s quad. Free won bronze in the quad at the 1996 Olympics.

The women are yet to be narrowed into specific crews with a sweep and sculling squad training together in Sydney. The priority boat for the scullers will be the women’s quad as Australia are the current World Champions in this event.

Still to be decided are the lightweight women’s and men’s double. These crews will be decided in April.

The selected athletes will start the next phase of training with their crew at a number of locations throughout Australia before heading to Europe to compete in the third World Cup in Lucerne, Switzerland on 18 June. Coming from the southern hemisphere, this will be the team’s only time to gauge boat speed against their Olympic competition.

The team will remain in Europe at training camps in Italy and Switzerland meeting to race at the Amsterdam Regatta in early July before heading to Athens a week before the Olympics commence.

Australian Olympic Team

Men’s Pair: Drew Ginn and James Tomkins

Men’s Four: David Dennis, Rob Jahrling, Tom Laurich and David McGowan

Men’s Eight: Bo Hanson, Mike McKay, Stuart Reside, Geoff Stewart, James Stewart, Stephen Stewart, Stefan Szczrowski, Stuart Welch, Michael Toon (coxswain)

Men’s Single: Craig Jones

Men’s Double: Peter Hardcastle, Brendan Long

Men’s Quad Scull: Scott Brennan, Shaun Coulton, David Crawshay, Duncan Free

Men’s Lightweight Four: Simon Burgess, Ben Cureton, Anthony Edwards, Glen Loftus

Women’s Sculling, to compete in the single scull, double scull and quad scull: Amber Bradley, Dana Faletic, Kerry Hore, Danielle Jolly, Donna Martin, Jane Robinson, Rebecca Sattin

Women’s Sweep, to compete in the pair and eight: Kyeema Doyle, Monique Heinke, Joanna Lutz, Catriona Oliver, Sarah Outhwaite, Sally Robbins, Victoria Roberts, Julia Wilson, Kyrstern Winkley, Jodi Winter, Katie Foulkes (coxswain)