Rob Waddell
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| Medal record | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Men's Rowing | |||
| Olympic Games | |||
Competitor for  New Zealand |
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| Gold | 2000 Sydney | Single Sculls | |
| World Championships | |||
| Gold | 1998 | Single Sculls | |
| Gold | 1999 | Single Sculls | |
Robert ("Rob") Norman Waddell, ONZM, (born January 7, 1975 in Te Kuiti) is a New Zealand rower, yachtsman and rugby union player. In 1998, he married fellow rower Sonia Scown.
Waddell started rowing at Kings College, Auckland. He was diagnosed with a condition called atrial fibrillation in 1997. It has needed careful management in order to permit him to compete at the highest level. He won the single scull at the rowing World Championships in 1998 and 1999, and the gold medal in the Single Sculls at the 2000 Summer Olympics. During his World Championship period, Waddell had several closely contested races with Xeno Müller, the 1996 Summer Olympics champion. In the years leading up to the Olympics, Müller beat Waddell in 3 out of the 7 races they faced each other. At the Olympics, Waddell and Müller dramatically traded the lead over the last half of the course before Waddell finally pulled away to win the gold medal.
Following the Olympics, he retired from rowing, trying out a number of other sports, including rugby, before joining Team New Zealand as a grinder for the 2003 America's Cup defence. He continued in the role as a grinder with Emirates Team New Zealand for the 2007 America's Cup challenge.
Waddell returned to rowing training at the New Zealand rowing training centre at Lake Karapiro in late 2007, and beat current world champion Mahe Drysdale at a club competition sparking a great competition between the two for the place to represent New Zealand at the 2008 Summer Olympics. The two have traded races, with Waddell leading by three victories to one when final trials began in March 2008. The first two races of the final trials were close, with each sculler winning one race. In the final race, Waddell suffered a repeat of his atrial fibrillation condition, resulting in Drysdale winning easily. Instead of the single scull, Waddell has been partnered with Nathan Cohen in the double sculls event for Beijing.
Waddell has one of the highest VO2 max intake levels of any athlete ever tested. He holds the fastest indoor rowing machine time in the world, clocking a time of 5mins 36.6secs (5:36.6), however this time is not officially recognized as the fastest, due to the fact that the 2km test was performed under New Zealand rowing, not during a Concept2 competition.
Contents |
[edit] Achievements
- Olympic Medals: 1 Gold
- World Championship Medals: 2 Gold
[edit] Olympic Games - Rowing
[edit] World Championships - Rowing
- 1999 - Gold, Single Sculls
- 1998 - Gold, Single Sculls
- 1997 - 8th, Single Sculls
- 1995 - 10th, Coxless Four (4-)
- 1994 - 5th, Coxed Pair (2+)
- 1994 - 13th, Coxless Pair (2-)
[edit] America's Cup - Sailing
- 2003 - Grinder, Team New Zealand. Unsuccessful defender of the America's Cup 2003
- 2007 - Grinder, Emirates Team New Zealand. Winner Louis Vuitton Cup 2007 but unsuccessful challenger for the America's Cup 2007
[edit] External links
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