Dave Rodger
| Olympic medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
Competitor for  New Zealand
| ||
| Men's Rowing | ||
| Bronze | Montreal 1976 | Eights |
Dave Rodger (born 18 June 1955 in Hamilton, New Zealand) is a former New Zealand rower who won an Olympic Bronze medal. At the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal he was a member of the eight along with Tony Hurt, Ivan Sutherland, Trevor Coker, Peter Dignan, Lindsay Wilson, Athol Earl and Alex McLean and Simon Dickie (cox). Rodger was selected for the coxed four to compete at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow but did not go due to the boycott. At the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles he was a member of the eight which finished fourth. Rodger married Dianne (née Zorn) a leading New Zealand athlete. They were the first husband and wife to compete for New Zealand at the same Olympic Games. David was first selected to represent New Zealand in New Zealand Rowing's first Junior eight crew in 1973 with team members David Symmons, Peter Dignan, Ross Lindstrom, Graham Hamilton, Peter Rowbotham, Graham Hill, Greg Ball and Frank Sheehan finishing fifth at Nottingham England. He then represented New Zealand in the u23 class of a tour of Australia winning all races. 1974 saw his first foray at elite level in the NZ Eight finishing third at the Lucerne World Rowing Championships Switzerland. 1975 was third again in the same event in Nottingham England. 1977 saw David secure second spot in the coxless four with Ivan Sutherland, David Lindstrom and Desmond Lock with New Coach Harry Mahon. 1978 saw another third in the men's eight at his home course of Lake Karapiro New Zealand. 1979 was a compulsory rest and marriage. 1981 saw David gain a seat back in the elite mens eight as stroke but also saw David for the first time relinguish a top three spot as he'd scored in previous world Championships, However the next year with David in the six seat saw the NZ eight catapult from seventh in 81 to world Champions in 1982 and 1983. After the disappointment of a fourth at the Olympic Games David continued a further year in the eight in 1985 only to come fourth again this time in the two seat. Some believe that if David had been in the six seat in both the Olympic eight and the 1985 eight the crew results could have been more golden but of course that is now speculation or part of the rowing storytime. The resulting fourth and continued placement in the two seat saw Rodger retire from rowing and join the BNZ America's cup Challenge in Fremantle Australia. David enjoyed being part of a group of people who built and sailed the first fiberglass 12metre yacht (KZ3) in the 12metre world Championships finishing fifth as a grinder and the first of five rowers to join the America's cup and team New Zealand at a later stage. .
Rodger now coaches, encouraging deep burn and sixty minute ergs, as well as eating yoghurt and drinking milk straight after training. He has been quoted as saying "if you were like me you would be viewing milk as a food and not as a liquid" and "you'll see that I'm really a sheep in wolf's clothing" and "a joke's a joke, a poke's a poke......no poke, no joke."
He is well respected for making awkward jokes about his New Zuland accent, relying heavily on the correlation between 'six' and 'sex'. (Written by an honorable Australian unable to pronounce six properly)
His son Logan is now attempting to follow in his father's footsteps as a budding young rower and member of the Waikato Regional Performance Rowing Centre.