Peter Gillon (11 August 1939 – 6 December 2018) was an Australian representative

rower Rowing, often called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars (called blades in the United Kingdom) are attached to the boat using rowlocks, while paddles are ...

who competed at two

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

. He competed at the 1960 Rome and

1964 Tokyo Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subsequ ...

in the men's coxless four.

Club and state rowing

Gillon was educated at

Xavier College Xavier College is a Roman Catholic, day and boarding school predominantly for boys, founded in 1872 by the Society of Jesus, with its main campus located in Kew, an eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Classes started in 1878. The ...

, Melbourne where he took up rowing. His senior club rowing was from the Yarra Yarra Rowing Club and later the

Mercantile Rowing Club The Mercantile Rowing Club is based in Melbourne, Australia on the Yarra River. It was founded in 1880 and has occupied its current site since 1885. More than 40 Mercantillians have represented Australia at Olympic Games. Club history A group of ...

in Melbourne.Gillon Profile at Austn Rowing History
/ref> The strength of Victorian rowing in the early 1960s was such that Gillon had already rowed at two Olympic Games before he was able to earn a seat in the Victorian state representative men's senior eight contesting the

King's Cup King's Cup (incl. translations), may refer to: Sports Football * Copa del Rey, Spanish for "King's Cup," the main national knockout tournament in men's football * King's Cup (Bahrain), the premier national knockout football tournament * King's ...

at the Interstate Regattas within the

Australian Rowing Championships 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 pre ...

. That selection came in 1965 when he rowed in the two seat of the Victorian eight to a second placing in the King's Cup behind NSW. He contested national title events at

first held in 1962 and thereafter every second year. He won silver in a coxed four at the 1962 Australian Championships and gold in Mercantile colours in a coxless four which he stroked in 1964.

International representative rowing

For the

1960 Rome Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad () and commonly known as Rome 1960 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 25 August to 11 September 1960 in Rome, Italy. Rome had previously been awar ...

a Victorian

coxless four A coxless four, abbreviated as a 4- and also called a straight four, is a racing shell used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four persons who propel the boat with sweep oars, without a coxswain. The crew consists of four ...

was selected as the 7th and last priority boat and wholly on the basis of self-funding. Gillon was picked in the three seat of that crew with the others coming from various Melbourne clubs - Peter Guest, Brian Vear and Kim Jelbart. The lack of coaching support provided to the team by the Australian Olympic Federation proved to be an issue. The four was eliminated at the repechage stage and there was no B final. For the

, the Australian 1964 national champion Mercantile coxless four was selected in-toto as Australia's coxless four entrants with Gillon at stroke. They placed 4th in their heat and 4th in the repechage, to be eliminated at that point, missing the B final and an overall regatta placing.

Professional career

Peter Gillon later became a

property developer Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw Real Estate, land and the sale of developed land or parce ...

in Melbourne, as

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of Gillon Group.

References

External links

Profile
at Australian Olympic Committee {{DEFAULTSORT:Gillon, Peter 1939 births 2018 deaths Australian male rowers Olympic rowers for Australia Rowers at the 1960 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 1964 Summer Olympics Australian businesspeople in real estate Place of birth missing People educated at Xavier College 20th-century Australian sportsmen