The Rowing Teacher: the story of the man behind the Kiwi M8+ gold medal in Tokyo

When John Foley was looking for the right person to profile for his documentary series, Irish-Kiwi Olympic rower then coach Tony O’Connor turned out to be an obvious choice.

“The Rowing Teacher” is a yarn, as Foley says, about a teacher who was enticed into taking a sabbatical from his day job to embark on an epic roller coaster journey guiding New Zealand’s men’s eight to their gold medal win at the Tokyo Olympics.

This yarn, however, doesn’t focus just on how O’Connor and the crew got to that win.

Foley is part of the Coach for Life Foundation which aims to grow, nurture and develop young athletes to become better athletes, better people and better New Zealanders. The Foundation wants to enhance the capability of coaches so that young athletes have a richer sporting experience. O’Connor turned out to be the ideal candidate to demonstrate the values the Foundation is after.

“I want to tell the stories about coaches that don’t win at all costs. The ones that aren’t flogging the athletes but still win on the world stage.”

As soon as Foley talked to O’Connor he knew that O’Connor was the right choice.

“The story resonated because it’s a life story. My main aim with Tony when I interviewed him on specific topics was to use his methods on how to be a coach for life. His story touches at so many levels – sport and life.”

Foley is full of anecdotes and back stories. Some of them made it into the documentary, others didn’t. There’s the one about when the team arrived back in New Zealand from qualifying for Tokyo at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta in May 2021 (delayed a year due to the Covid-19 Pandemic). The crew had to go into two weeks of isolation and the Olympics were just two months away. Stuck in separate hotel rooms O’Connor’s high school provided an erg for each athlete with O’Connor also insisting on stationary bikes so that his crew wouldn’t go crazy.

Then there was the one about the problem with the rudder. Just half an hour out from launching for the final at Tokyo, O’Connor, by chance, noticed the rudder had come apart. Before this documentary O’Connor had told no one – not even the crew. Foley was able to film their reactions to finding out.

“This,” says Foley, “is documentary gold!”

What is not in the documentary was that O’Connor had no spare rudder. With the help of David Filippi, they superglued the rudder together.

The men’s eight final was New Zealand’s highest viewed Olympic event ever.

Also not in the documentary was that they were able to get a pre-release version to O’Connor’s former coach and mentor Thor Nilsen, who passed away last week at the age of 92.

Foley describes: “Tony sent the documentary to Thor before it went to air. Thor’s wife got the email and told Tony that Thor didn’t have long to live. Thor was blown away by the documentary and Tony got the opportunity to talk to Thor. He says it became a chance to say goodbye.”

After the Tokyo win O’Connor received offers from around the world to coach. His reply, “I’ve scratched that itch, but my passion is to help grow teenage kids to take on a better life.”

O’Connor returned to teaching high school physics and maths. He stays involved in rowing through his high school team.

You can watch The Rowing Teacher here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpAzyCKHWs4