| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Birth name | Ian Andrew Wright | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1961-12-09)9 December 1961 (age 63) Wanganui, New Zealand[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Rowing coach | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 189 cm (6 ft 2 in)[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 90 kg (198 lb)[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Rowing | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Waikato Rowing Club | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Ian Andrew Wright (born 9 December 1961) is a former New Zealandrower who won an Olympic bronze medal at the1988 Summer Olympics inSeoul. Wright won 31 national titles during his career. After his rowing career ended, he became a coach and his Swiss lightweight men's four team won gold at the2016 Summer Olympics. He was announced as Australia's head rowing coach in September 2016. He immediately coached the Australian men's four to a gold medal at the 2017 world rowing championships in Sarasota, Florida.
Wright was born in 1961 inWanganui, New Zealand. He moved to Hamilton and became a member of theHamilton Rowing Club.[2] He hadHarry Mahon as his rowing coach.[3]
Wright won two medals at the1986 Commonwealth Games inEdinburgh. He won silver withBarrie Mabbott in the coxless pair and bronze in the men's eight.[4][5] At the1988 Summer Olympics, Wright won bronze in the coxed four along withGeorge Keys,Greg Johnston,Chris White, andAndrew Bird (cox).[6]
At the1989 World Rowing Championships atBled, Yugoslavia, he won a bronze in the men's four withBill Coventry,Alastair Mackintosh, andCampbell Clayton-Greene.[7]
At the1992 Summer Olympics inBarcelona, Wright finished 11th in the coxed four.[4] At the1996 Summer Olympics inAtlanta, he came 13th in the coxless four.[4]
During his career, he has won a total of 31 New Zealand titles with the eight (12 titles), coxed four (7 titles), coxless four (7 titles), coxless pair (2 titles), and coxed pair (3 titles).[4]
A teacher, Wright was involved in rowing coaching school and age-group at national level. He coached severalMaadi Cup winning squads at bothSt Paul's Collegiate School andHamilton Boys' High School.[4] He is described as "intense" and speaks his mind, which does not sit well with some people. He is held in high regard by those who have been coached by him.[8]
From 2005 to 2009, Wright was head coach at theMelbourne University Boat Club.[9] Wright worked forRowing New Zealand as coach for the men's eight, and was head coach at the Waikato Regional Performance Centre with training atLake Karapiro.[9] In late 2014, Wright was appointed head national coach of Switzerland.[3] He led the lightweight men's four to become the2015 world champions.[10] A year later, thesame boat won Olympic gold at theRio Olympics.[3][11] In September 2016, he was appointed head rowing coach for Australia's men.[9] Within a year of Wright starting in Australia, the Australian men's four—consisting ofJoshua Hicks,Spencer Turrin,Jack Hargreaves andAlexander Hill—won gold at the2017 World Rowing Championships inSarasota, Florida.[12] Until 2017, Australia had not won a World Championship in the Men's Coxless Four since 1991 in Vienna, Austria.
In July 2018, Wright coached the Australian Men's Eight to a win in the Grand Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta. Beating the Romanian National Eight in the Final, Australia would also go on to claim the course record in a time of 5:53 while being in the arguably less-favoured Buckinghamshire lane. This same year at the 2018 World Rowing Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria the Australian Men's Four won another gold medal giving them back to back World Champion titles.
