James Rook (born 18 November 1997) is an Australian national representative

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically a ...

coxswain. He is an Olympian and a medallist at the

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

and

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 (Litoměřice District), Račice in ...

and a winner of the

Remenham Challenge Cup The Remenham Challenge Cup is a sport rowing, rowing event for women's eight (rowing), eights at the annual Henley Royal Regatta on the River Thames at Henley-on-Thames in England. It is open to female crews from all eligible rowing clubs. Two o ...

at the 2018

Henley Royal Regatta Henley Royal Regatta (or Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage) is a Rowing (sport), rowing event held annually on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. It was established on 26 March 1839. It diffe ...

. He is notable for becoming in 2018 the first Australian male coxswain to steer a representative Australian female crew under the FISA gender-neutral coxswain selection policy change of 2017. He coxed the Australian women's eight at the

Tokyo 2020 Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

Club and state rowing

Rook was educated at

Scotch College, Melbourne Scotch College is a private, Presbyterian day and boarding school for boys, located in Hawthorn, an inner-eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The college was established in 1851 as The Melbourne Academy in a house in Spri ...

where he took up rowing. His senior coxing was from

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 ...

. He was first selected to represent Victoria in the men's youth eight who contested the Noel F Wilkinson Trophy in the Interstate Regatta within the 2016

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 ...

. In 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022 he coxed the Victorian senior men's eight contesting the King's Cup at the Australian Interstate Regatta. In 2021 he coxed (and co-coached) the Victorian women's eight to a Queen's Cup victory at the Australian Interstate Regatta. In 2021 in the stern of a National Training Centre eight, he won the open women's eight title at the Australian Championships.

International representative rowing

Rook was first selected to represent Australia in the senior men's squad of 2017 who raced at the World Rowing Cups II and III in Europe before contesting the

2017 World Rowing Championships The 2017 World Rowing Championships were the 47th edition of the World Rowing Championships that were held from 24 September to 1 October 2017 in Sarasota, Florida. Host selection During 2013, Plovdiv and Sarasota, Florida both applied to host ...

in Sarasota USA. At those World Championships, Rook coxed the Australian

coxed pair A coxed pair, abbreviated as a 2+, is a racing shell used in the rowing (sport), sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for two persons who propel the boat with sweep (rowing), sweep oars and is steered by a coxswain (rowing), coxswain (cox ...

of Angus Widdicombe and

Darcy Wruck Darcy Wruck (born 16 January 1995) is an Australian Rowing (sport), rower. He has represented at underage and senior world championships and won a silver medal at the 2017 World Rowing Championships, 2017 World Championships in an Australian cox ...

to a silver medal.Rook at World Rowing
/ref> He also steered the Australian men's senior eight in Sarasota to an overall eighth placing. In 2017 FISA announced a number of new rule changes, including voting for coxswains to become gender neutral. In 2018 Australian selection processes embraced this new policy resulting in Rook being selected to steer the Australian women's senior eight for the World Rowing Cup II of 2018 and Kendall Brodie of

Sydney Rowing Club Sydney Rowing Club is the oldest rowing club in New South Wales, Australia formed in 1870. It has occupied its current site on Port Jackson's Parramatta River at Abbotsford, New South Wales, Abbotsford Point since 1874. The club has a focus on it ...

being selected to cox the Australian men's senior eight. The women's eight with Rook in the stern started their 2018 international campaign with a bronze medal win at the World Rowing Cup II in Linz, Austria. In their second competitive outing of the 2018 international season in a national selection eight and racing as the Georgina Hope Rinehart National Training Centre, after Rowing Australia patron,

Gina Rinehart Georgina Hope Rinehart (, born 9 February 1954) is an Australian heiress, billionaire mining magnate and businesswoman. She is the executive chairwoman of Hancock Prospecting, a privately owned mineral exploration and extraction company foun ...

, Rook steered the 2018 Australian women's eight to a

victory at the

. At the

2018 World Rowing Championships The 2018 World Rowing Championships were the World Rowing Championships held at the regatta course in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. The event was held from 9 to 16 September. Events held were men and women's open class, lightweight class, and para-rowing. ...

in Plovdiv the Australian women's eight with Rook at cox, won their heat and placed third in the final winning the bronze medal. In 2019 Rook was again picked in Australian senior sweep squad for the international season. He coxed the Australian women's eight to their gold medal win at Rowing World Cup II in Poznan and to a silver medal at WRC III in Rotterdam. Rook was then selected to cox Australia's women's eight at the

in Linz, Austria. The eight were looking for a top five finish at the 2019 World Championships to qualify for the

Tokyo Olympics Tokyo Olympics may refer to: * 1940 Summer Olympics, Games of the XII Olympiad, cancelled due to World War II * 1964 Summer Olympics, Games of the XVIII Olympiad * 2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an ...

. They placed second in their heat, came through the repechage and led in the final from the start and at all three 500m marks till they were overrun by New Zealand by 2.7secs. The Australian eight took the silver medal and qualified for

Tokyo 2020 The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

. At the

the Australian women's eight were placed third in their heat, fourth in the

repechage Repechage ( , ; , ) is a practice in series competitions that allows participants who failed to meet qualifying standards by a small margin to continue to the next round. A well-known example is the wild card system. Types Different type ...

and fifth in the Olympic A final. Had they managed to maintain their time of 5:57:15 that they achieved in their repechage they would have beaten the winners, Canada, by nearly two seconds and won the gold medal.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rook, James 1997 births Australian male rowers Living people Australian coxswains (rowing) World Rowing Championships medalists for Australia Rowers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic rowers for Australia Sportsmen from Victoria (state) People educated at Scotch College, Melbourne 21st-century Australian sportsmen