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| Born | 25 May 1973 Hobart, Tasmania, Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Sport | Rowing | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Surfers Paradise Rowing Club | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Duncan Seth Free OAM (born 25 May 1973) is a retired Australian rower and Olympic gold medallist. He is 4-time Olympian and two-time world champion who represented Australia at four world rowing championships in both sculls and sweep oared boats. He was a six-time Australian national sculling champion.
Free was born in Hobart, Tasmania. His father Reg Free rowed in numerous King's Cup crews for Tasmania from 1962 and in 1967, became the first Tasmanian oarsman selected to row in the Australian men's eight when they competed by invitation at the 1967 European Rowing Championships in Vichy, France. The family relocated to Queensland in 1983 and in the next decade Reg Free coached several Queensland King's Cup crews and coached his sons Marcus and Duncan to state, national and international victories. [1]
Duncan Free's senior rowing was from the Surfers Paradise Rowing Club in Queensland. Representing that club he raced for the national Australian sculling title at the Australian Rowing Championships for twelve consecutive years from 1993. He won that national title on six occasions. [2]
He was the Queensland state representative sculler picked to race the President's Cup at the Australian Rowing Championships eight times from 1996 to 2004. Coached by his father, he won the interstate championship for Queensland on seven of those occasions. [3]
Free won Diamond Sculls event at the 2001 Henley Royal Regatta racing for the Surfer's Paradise Rowing Club. [4]
Duncan and his brother Marcus were paired in the men's double scull at two world championships (1997 and 1998) coached by Reg. They took a bronze medal at the 1997 World Rowing Championships at Lac d'Aiguebelette, France. [5]
Duncan was seated in Australian Olympic quad sculls for the 1996, 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games. He won a bronze medal at Atlanta 1996, [6] placed fourth in Sydney and seventh in Athens.
After the Athens Games, Duncan took a year off before switching to sweep rowing and establishing a partnership with gold medallist Drew Ginn in the coxless pair. They won at the World Championships 2006 and 2007 and took the gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. [7]
Peter Thomas AntonieOAM is an Australian former rower. He is an Olympic and Commonwealth games gold medallist and world champion. He is regarded as one of Australia's greatest ever rowers figuring in senior representative squads consistently from 1977 to 1996 and representing Australia on eighteen occasions at three Olympics and fifteen World Rowing Championships. He competed at the highest levels as both a sculler and a sweep oarsman, in both lightweight and open divisions, across all boat classes. He won twenty-nine Australian national championship titles in his career.
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.
Sarah Ann Patricia Cook is an Australian former representative rower. She was a six-time national champion and a dual Olympian who represented at senior World Rowing Championships from 2006 to 2011. Since competitive retirement she has been a rowing coach, commentator and a sports administrator at the highest levels. She has been a board member and since 2021, the Chief Operating Officer of Rowing Australia. Since 2022 she has been a member of the World Rowing Council representing Oceania. Now, Sarah Cool OLY serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Rowing Australia, whilst also retaining her responsibilities as a World Rowing Council member.
Eric Franciscus Maria Verdonk was a New Zealand rower who won bronze medals in the single sculls events at the 1988 Summer Olympics, 1986 Commonwealth Games, and 1990 World Rowing Championships.
Anthony John Edwards is an Australian former lightweight rower. He is a five time Olympian, triple Olympic medallist, a world champion and a six-time Australian national champion. He represented Australia at the premier world regattas consistently over a twenty-year period from 1993 to 2012.
David William Crawshay is an Australian former rower, an eleven-time national champion, an Olympic champion and medalist at World Championships. He represented Australia in rowing at three consecutive Olympic games from Athens 2004 to London 2012.
Stephen Mark Hawkins OAM is an Australian former national champion, World Champion and Olympic gold medal winning lightweight rower.
Boden Joseph "Bo" Hanson is a four time Australian Olympian rowing, three time Olympic medalist, specialist coaching consultant, corporate trainer and presenter. Hansen won his three bronze medals at the Atlanta (1996), Sydney (2000) and Athens (2004) Olympic games His professional career includes founding high-performance consultancy Athlete Assessments in 2007, and Team8 which presents to corporate audiences.
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.
Brett Hayman is an Australian three time world champion, a dual Olympian and an Australian national champion rowing coxswain. He won a silver medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics steering the Australian men's eight. He coxed Australian crews at every premier world rowing regatta from 1993 to 2000.
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Haimish John Karrasch is an Australian former rower. He was a nine-time Queensland state representative, an eight-time Australian national champion, a dual Olympian and won a silver medal at the 1999 World Rowing Championships.
Rosemary Popa is an Australian national champion rower, Olympic gold medalist, and former rower for the University of California, Berkeley. A dual citizen of Australia and the United States, she has represented both countries at World Rowing Championships, twice winning medals for Australia. She won the Remenham Challenge Cup at the 2018 Henley Royal Regatta in the Australian women's eight. In 2021, she was selected to represent Australia in the coxless four event at the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics, where she won the gold medal.
Marcus Free is an Australian former rower.
Jim Stride is an Australian former representative rower. He was a six-time Australian national champion, raced in the Australia men's eight at the 1978 World Rowing Championships and competed in the men's coxless pair event at the 1984 Summer Olympics.
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