Michael Rowland Stanley (born 6 November 1957) is a New Zealand sports administrator and former 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 ...

. He was a two-time world champion and represented New Zealand at the

1984 Los Angeles Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

. Stanley has since 2009 been the president of the

New Zealand Olympic Committee The New Zealand Olympic Committee (before 1994, The ''New Zealand Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association'') is both the National Olympic Committee and the Commonwealth Games Association in New Zealand responsible for selecting athletes to re ...

Early life

Stanley was born in 1957 in

Lower Hutt Lower Hutt () is a list of cities in New Zealand, city in the Wellington Region of New Zealand. Administered by the Hutt City Council, it is one of the four cities that constitute the Wellington#Wellington metropolitan area, Wellington metropoli ...

. Stanley and his three brothers all attended

Westlake Boys High School Westlake Boys High School () is a state secondary school for boys in Forrest Hill, New Zealand, Forrest Hill, Auckland, New Zealand. The school opened in 1962, when Westlake High School (opened 1958) split into Westlake Girls High School on the ...

, where he was from 1971 to 1975. He captained the 1st Rugby XV for three of those years, and was a member of the school's senior rowing eight team in 1974 and 1975.

Rowing career

He was chosen for the coxed four for the

1980 Moscow Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

, but New Zealand did not attend the games due to the

boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent resistance, nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organisation, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for Morality, moral, society, social, politics, political, or Environmenta ...

. At the

1981 World Rowing Championships The 1981 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 30 August to 6 September 1981 at Oberschleißheim Regatta Course in Oberschleißheim near Munich, West Germany. Medal summary Men's events Women's events ...

Oberschleißheim Oberschleißheim (, , in contrast to " Lower Schleißheim") is a municipality in the district of Munich, and a suburb to Munich in Bavaria, in southern Germany. It is located 13 km north of Munich (centre). As of 2005 it had a population o ...

outside

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

in Germany, he was a member of the New Zealand eight, which won the B final. At the

1982 World Rowing Championships The 1982 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 28 to 29 August 1982 at Rotsee in Lucerne, Switzerland. Medal summary Men's events Women's events Medal table References {{World Rowing Champi ...

Rotsee __NOTOC__ The Rotsee (previously known as Rootsee) is a natural Rowing (sport), rowing lake on the northern edge of Lucerne, Switzerland. It is regarded as one of the best rowing venues in the world. Description and location The lake and its sur ...

, Switzerland, he won a gold medal with the New Zealand eight in the stroke seat. At the

1983 World Rowing Championships The 1983 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 3 to 4 September 1983 at Wedau in Duisburg, West Germany. Medal summary Men's events Women's events Medals table Seventeen nations won medals of th ...

Wedau The Wedau Regatta Course is an artificial rowing/canoeing lake in Duisburg, Germany. The Course was built in 1935 and has hosted numerous international watersports events since its construction. Including the 1983 World Rowing Championships. It ...

Duisburg Duisburg (; , ) is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine (Lower Rhine) and the Ruhr (river), Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruh ...

, Germany, he won a gold medal with the New Zealand eight in the stroke seat. At the

, he was a member of the New Zealand eight that came fourth. He retired after the 1984 Olympic Games from competitive rowing.

Awards

In 1982, the 1982 rowing eight crew was named sportsman of the year. The 1982 team was inducted into the

New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame The New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame is an organisation commemorating New Zealand's greatest sporting triumphs. It was inaugurated as part of the New Zealand sesquicentenary celebrations in 1990. Some 160 members have been inducted into the hall ...

in 1995.

Post rowing career

From 1988 to 1994, Stanley was Sports Master for Westlake Boys High School. He coached the rowing team, and the Westlake boat won the Springbok Shield in 1989 and 1991, with his school coming second in the

Maadi Cup The Maadi Cup is the prize for the New Zealand Secondary Schools Boys' Under 18 Rowing Eights. More colloquially, it is the name given to the New Zealand Secondary Schools Rowing Regatta, at which the Maadi Cup is raced. The regatta is the large ...

in both those years. He returned to the school in 2004 as a rowing coach. Stanley was chief executive of

Rowing New Zealand Rowing New Zealand is the sports governing body for rowing in New Zealand. Its purpose is to provide leadership and support to enable an environment of success for the New Zealand rowing community. This includes secondary schools, clubs, masters ...

from 1994 to 2003. He remained on the board of the organisation until 2009. From 2005, he was a member of the

, and since 2009, he has been president of the organisation, when he succeeded Sir

Eion Edgar Sir Eion Sinclair Edgar (30 January 1945 – 14 June 2021) was a New Zealand businessman and philanthropist. He was the chairman of Forsyth Barr Group, a major investment company based in Dunedin, for 20 years until his retirement in 2018, and ...

Family

Stanley is married to Jane, and they have three children.

References

External links

* * * * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Stanley, Mike 1957 births Living people New Zealand male rowers Sportspeople from Lower Hutt People educated at Westlake Boys High School Rowers at the 1984 Summer Olympics Olympic rowers for New Zealand World Rowing Championships medalists for New Zealand Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit 20th-century New Zealand sportsmen