Paul Thompson (rower)
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Paul Anthony Thompson MBE (born 15 March 1964,
Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...
) is an Australian elite level rowing coach and former
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 ...
. As a rower he was an Australian under-age champion, won a silver medal at the 1985 U23 World Championships and rowed in senior King's Cup eights for both South Australia and New South Wales. He has coached Australian and British crews to World Championship titles and Olympic medals including taking
Kate Slatter Kate Elizabeth Slatter OAM (born 10 November 1971; married name Kate Allen) is an Australian former rower, a sixteen time national champion, world champion and Olympic champion from Adelaide, South Australia. She is a three-time Olympian who i ...
and Megan Still to Australia's first women's Olympic rowing gold at
Atlanta 1996 Atlanta 1996 may refer to: * 1996 Summer Olympics * 1996 Summer Paralympics The 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, were held from August 16 to 25. It was the first Paralympics to get mass media sponsorship, and had a bud ...
. By 2012 he was Great Britain's head coach for women and lightweights and took British crews to three gold and two silver medals at
London 2012 The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
. Since 2022 he has been Rowing Australia's High Performance Director.


Australian state and representative rowing

Thompson first rowed at 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 ...
in 1982 as a schoolboy contesting and winning the national U19 coxless pair title with James Galloway and representing
Narrabundah College Narrabundah College is a government college that teaches the last two years of secondary education in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). It was the first school in Australia to offer the International Baccalaureate (IB), starting the progr ...
, ACT. The following year he and Galloway contested the U23 coxless pair title in the colours of the ACT Rowing Association. Thompson was first selected to represent Australia at the 1982
Junior World Rowing Championships The World Rowing U19 Championships, former name World Rowing Junior Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by FISA (the International Rowing Federation). A rower or coxswain shall be classified as a Junior until 31 December ...
where he raced a coxless pair with James Galloway to fourth place. In 1984 and again in 1985 he was selected in the Australian U23 men's eight for their Trans-Tasman match series against New Zealand. In 1985, that Australian U23 men's eight with Thompson in the four seat rowed to a silver medal at the
World Rowing U23 Championships World Rowing U23 Championships is an international rowing regatta Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is ...
in Banyoles. Thompson's senior club rowing was firstly from 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 and then the Torrens Rowing Club in Adelaide. He contested the national coxed four title at 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 ...
in 1985 in Mercantile colours. By 1986 he had won a scholarship to the
Australian Institute of Sports The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the A ...
and that year rowing in an AIS crew but in his Torrens RC colours, he again contested the national coxed four title. He contested the coxless pair and coxless four titles in 1987 rowing for Torrens and in 1988 in ACT Rowing Association colours. In 1987 Thompson was seated in three Torrens Rowing Club crews which won South Australian state titles - the eight, coxless four and the coxless pair. He made state selection for South Australia that year in the men's eight contesting the 1987 King's Cup at the Interstate Regatta 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 ...
. The following year, qualifying through his ACT residency he rowed in the 1988 New South Wales men's King's Cup eight which placed third.


Australian coaching career

Thompson's first win as a coach was in 1985 when he coached the University of Melbourne Queen's College crew to victory in the Intercollege Rowing Championship with co-coach Ben Killerby. Later, while training at the
Australian Institute of Sports The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the A ...
in 1988 Thompson suffered a bike accident which ended his rowing career. He took to coaching immediately and the following year he co-coached with
Reinhold Batschi Reinhold Batschi OAM (born 20 August 1942 in Sânpetru, Brașov County, Romania) is a former Romanian rower and leading Australian rowing coach. He was the inaugural Head Coach of the Australian Institute of Sport's rowing program and Head Coa ...
, four AIS men's crews to victory at the
Australian Championships The Australian Open (stylized ΛO) is a tennis tournament organised by Tennis Australia annually at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is chronologically the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events every year, held be ...
. Thompson became in demand as a coach of women's squads. Between 1993 and 1998 he coached state representative women's coxless fours contesting the premier race for women at the annual Interstate Regatta 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 ...
. Firstly he coached New South Wales crews, then ACT and then in 1998 he took the Victorian women's crew to victory. He took Australian women's sweep crews to every
World Rowing Championships The World Rowing Championships is an international Rowing (sport), rowing regatta organized by International Rowing Federation, FISA (the International Rowing Federation). It is a week-long event held at the end of the northern hemisphere summer ...
from 1991 to 1999 and on three occasions was responsible for all three sweep-oared boat classes. He coached
Kate Slatter Kate Elizabeth Slatter OAM (born 10 November 1971; married name Kate Allen) is an Australian former rower, a sixteen time national champion, world champion and Olympic champion from Adelaide, South Australia. She is a three-time Olympian who i ...
and Megan Still to a world championship title in a coxless pair in Tampere in 1995 and the following year to Olympic gold in Atlanta. He was still coaching Slatter in 2000 when at the
Sydney Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...
she and
Rachael Taylor Rachael May Taylor (born 11 July 1984) is an Australian actress and model. Her first lead role was in the Australian television series ''headLand'' (2005–2006) as Sasha Forbes. She then made the transition to Hollywood, appearing in films in ...
rowed to a silver medal in the coxless pair. After his 2018 departure from British Rowing, Thompson re-engaged with Rowing Australia and by the time of the
2022 World Rowing Championships The 2022 World Rowing Championships were held from 18 to 25 September 2022 in Račice, Czech Republic. Medal summary Medal table Non-Olympic/Paralympic classes Men Women Pararowing Participating nations 63 countries participated in thi ...
in Racize, Thompson was Rowing Australia's High Performance Director.


British coaching career

Thompson joined the British Rowing coaching staff in 2001 and was the lead coach for women at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. He coached Great Britain's
Katherine Grainger Dame Katherine Jane Grainger (born 12 November 1975) is a Scottish athlete. She is a 2012 Summer Olympics gold medallist, four-time Olympic silver medallist and six-time World Champion for Great Britain. She served as Chancellor of Oxford Broo ...
for 12 years, from his arrival in the UK until the
London 2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
, where she and Anna Watkins won gold. As Great Britain's head coach for women and lightweights, Thompson was responsible for three gold and two silver medals at London 2012. In 2016 Thompson was accused by British rower
Emily Taylor Emily Taylor (7 April 1795 – 11 March 1872) was an English schoolmistress, poet, children's author, and hymnist. She wrote numerous tales for children, chiefly historical, along with books of instruction and some descriptive natural history. ...
of being a "massive bully" and creating a culture of fear in the British women's selection squad. Taylor had lost her seat in the British women's eight to another rower two months out from London 2012. Rower Rick Eglington, the boyfriend of
Vicky Thornley Victoria Thornley (born 30 November 1987) is a British rower. She won a silver medal for Great Britain with Katherine Grainger in the women's double sculls at the 2016 Summer Olympics. She was also a member of the Great Britain team that finishe ...
who was also coached by Thompson, accused him of being “overbearing” and alleged he “caused unnecessary stress to his top athlete”. After an inquiry by British Rowing, Thompson was cleared in Feb 2017 of the bullying complaint and continued in his role as the chief coach for women and lightweights. In December 2018 Thompson's departure from British Rowing was announced.


Accolades

Thompson was appointed
Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
(MBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to rowing and the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. In 2013 his alma mater, the
University of Canberra The University of Canberra (UC) is a public university, public research university with its main campus located in Bruce, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The campus is from Belconnen Town Centre, and from Canberra's Civic, Australian ...
acknowledged him with the 2013 Distinguished Alumni Award for the Faculty of Health. He had graduated from that institution in 1990 with a B. App Science in Health Education. In 2017 he was inducted to the
Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory until 1938, is an internal States and territories of Australia, territory of Australia. Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is situated within the territory, an ...
Sport Hall of Fame and he was the inaugural inductee to the University of Canberra's Sport Walk of Fame in 2022.


Coaching palmares


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 ...
coach

* 1989
Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...
men's sweep crews: coxless pairs (first and second), coxed pair (first), coxless four (first), coxed four (first).


Australian Interstate Regatta coach

* 1993 New South Wales women's coxless four for ULVA Trophy - second * 1995 New South Wales women's coxless four for ULVA Trophy - third * 1996 ACT women's coxless four for ULVA Trophy - fourth * 1997 ACT women's coxless four for ULVA Trophy - second * 1998 Victorian women's coxless four for ULVA Trophy - first


World Rowing Championships The World Rowing Championships is an international Rowing (sport), rowing regatta organized by International Rowing Federation, FISA (the International Rowing Federation). It is a week-long event held at the end of the northern hemisphere summer ...
coach

* 1991 Austria All Australian women's sweep crews: eight, coxless four, coxless pair * 1993 Roundnice Australian women's coxless four - sixth * 1994 Indianapolis All Australian women's sweep crews: eight, coxless four - bronze, coxless pair - bronze * 1995 Tampere All Australian women's sweep crews: eight, coxless four, coxless pair - gold ( Slatter and
Still A still is an apparatus used to distillation, distill liquid mixtures by heating to selectively Boiling, boil and then cooling to Condensation, condense the vapor. A still uses the same concepts as a basic Distillation#Laboratory_procedures, ...
) * 1997 Aiguebelette Australian women's coxless pair - fourth * 1998 Cologne Both Australian women's sweep crews: eight - fourth, coxless pair - seventh * 1999 St Catharines Australian women's coxless pair - bronze ( Slatter and
Taylor Taylor, Taylors or Taylor's may refer to: People * Taylor (surname) ** List of people with surname Taylor * Taylor (given name), including Tayla and Taylah * Taylor sept, a branch of Scottish clan Cameron * Justice Taylor (disambiguation) ...
) * 2022 Racize Australia's High Performance Director - 4 x team silver medals and 4 x bronze. * 2023 Belgrade Australia's High Performance Director


Olympics coach

*
1992 Barcelona Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...
Australian women's coxless four - sixth *
1996 Atlanta Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...
Australian women's coxless pair - gold ( Slatter and
Still A still is an apparatus used to distillation, distill liquid mixtures by heating to selectively Boiling, boil and then cooling to Condensation, condense the vapor. A still uses the same concepts as a basic Distillation#Laboratory_procedures, ...
) *
2000 Sydney Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...
Australian women's coxless pair - silver ( Slatter and
Taylor Taylor, Taylors or Taylor's may refer to: People * Taylor (surname) ** List of people with surname Taylor * Taylor (given name), including Tayla and Taylah * Taylor sept, a branch of Scottish clan Cameron * Justice Taylor (disambiguation) ...
) *
2004 Athens Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...
British women's quad scull - silver ( Mowbray,
Flood A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...
, Houghton,
Romero The name Romero is a nickname type of surname for an Ancient Roman or a modern day Italian. The name was originally derived from the Latin word Romaeus and the Greek word Romaios, which mean Rome, Roman. #A person on a religious journey or pilgrim ...
) and coxless pair - silver ( Grainger and
Bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...
) *
2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...
British women's quad scull - silver ( Vernon,
Flood A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...
, Houghton, Grainger) *
2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
British women's double scull - gold ( Grainger and Watkins) *
2016 Rio Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...
British women's double scull - silver ( Grainger and Thornley)


Other

*
1994 Commonwealth Games The 1994 Commonwealth Games ( French: ''XVéme Jeux du Commonwealth'') were held in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, between 18 and 28 August 1994. Ten types of sports were featured at the Victoria Games: athletics, aquatics, badminton, box ...
All Australian women's sweep crews : eight - silver, coxless four - silver, coxless pair - gold ( Ozolins and
Klomp A ''klomp'' (, plural ''klompen'' ) is a whole-foot clog from the Netherlands. Along with cheese, tulips, and windmills, they are strongly associated with the country and are considered to be a national symbol of the Netherlands. Usage Approxima ...
)


References


External links


Biography on British Rowing website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Paul Living people Australian rowing coaches Australian Institute of Sport coaches Australian male rowers Australian emigrants to England Members of the Order of the British Empire 1964 births University of Canberra alumni Sportspeople from Canberra 20th-century Australian sportsmen