Cameron Girdlestone (born 29 April 1988) is an Australian representative rower. He is a five-time Australian national champion, a medalist at World Championships, a dual Olympian and an Olympic silver and bronze medallist. He raced in the Australian men's quad scull at the

Tokyo 2020 Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the List of Olympic Games h ...

to a bronze medal.

Personal

Girdlestone was born in Sydney and attended Samuel Gilbert Primary school. He took up rowing at high school at

The King's School, Parramatta , motto_translation = "Bravely and Faithfully" , streetaddress = 87–129 Pennant Hills Road , city = North Parramatta, Sydney , state = New South Wales , country = Australia , coordinat ...

. He is a PDHPE teacher at Sydney Church of England Grammar School. At the conclusion of the

2020 Tokyo Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the List of Olympic Games h ...

he was elected as a member of the AOC's Athlete's Commission.

Club and national career

Girdlestone rows from the Sydney University Boat Club. He first rowed in the Interstate Regatta at the Australian Rowing Championships in 2010 representing New South Wales in the men's

single scull A single scull (or a scull) is a rowing boat designed for a single person who propels the boat with two oars, one in each hand. Racing boats (often called "shells") are long, narrow, and broadly semi-circular in cross-section in order to mini ...

in the President's Cup event. In 2016 he was seated in the New South Wales state eight which placed second in the King's Cup that year. At the 2019

Australian Championships The Australian Open is a tennis tournament held annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, preceding the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. ...

he won the open men's double scull national title with his SUBC clubmate Campbell Watts and he stroked a composite quad scull to win the open men's quad title. In 2021 he won an Australian Championship title in the open men's single scull and also won a national title in the open men's quad scull. In 2019 and 2021 he was the New South Wales representative sculler to contest the President's Cup at the Interstate Regatta. In 2022 he won another national open men's quad scull title in a composite Australian selection crew.

International rowing career

At the

2015 World Rowing Championships The 2015 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 30 August to 6 September 2015 at Lac d'Aiguebelette, Aiguebelette in France. Description The annual week-long rowing regatta was organized by FISA (the Int ...

on Lac d'Aiguebelette in Aiguebelette France he finished 2nd in the men's quadruple sculls (M4x) event, rowing with David Crawshay,

Karsten Forsterling Karsten Forsterling (born 21 January 1980) is an Australian former representative rower. He was a national champion, world champion, a dual Olympian and Olympic medal winner. He represented Australia at eight senior world rowing cham ...

and David Watts. In the quadruple scull at the 2016 Rio Olympics in a crew with

James McRae James McRae (born 27 June 1987) is an Australian former representative rower. He is a national champion, world champion, three time Olympian, Olympic medallist and record holder. In the Australian men's quad scull he won a silver medal at th ...

and Alexander Belonogoff he won the silver medal. In 2019 he was selected with Alex Purnell, David Watts and Caleb Antill to row Australia's quad scull for the 2019 international season. They placed 2nd at the World Rowing Cup II in Poznan and 4th at WRC III in Rotterdam. With Hamish Playfair and Campbell and David Watts, Girdlestone was selected to race Australia's quad scull at the

2019 World Rowing Championships The 2019 World Rowing Championships were held in Ottensheim, Austria from 25 August to 1 September 2019. Apart from Ottensheim, the right to host the championships was contested by Hamburg in Germany, Račice in the Czech Republic, and Varese ...

in Linz, Austria. The quad were looking for a top eight finish at the 2019 World Championships to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics. They won their heat and placed third in semi-final, thereby qualifying the boat for the A-final and the

Tokyo 2020 The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the List of Olympic Games h ...

. They finished in fourth place. By the time of national team selections in 2021 for the delayed Tokyo Olympics, Girdlestone was the sole crew member who'd qualified the boat for Tokyo to be picked to race it. Girdlestone was selected at stroke with Caleb Antill,

Luke Letcher Luke Letcher (born 11 June 1994) is an Australian representative rower - a national champion, an underage world champion and an Olympian. He won a world title at the 2016 World Rowing U23 Championships in Australia's U23 quad scull. He raced in ...

and Jack Cleary in the other seats. This combination had won the Australian national title in the quad in 2021. In Tokyo the quad won their heat and progressed straight to the A final. They were behind the lead for much of the race but winds had blown up before the event and some crews struggled with their blade-work in the chop. With Girdlestone sculling at three Australian quad kept their composure and technique and managed a bronze medal finish on the line.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Girdlestone, Cameron 1988 births Living people Australian male rowers Olympic rowers for Australia Olympic silver medalists for Australia Olympic bronze medalists for Australia Olympic medalists in rowing Rowers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics World Rowing Championships medalists for Australia 21st-century Australian people Rowers from Sydney Sportsmen from New South Wales People educated at The King's School, Parramatta