Peter Thomas Antonie OAM (born 11 May 1958) is an Australian former rower. He is an Olympic and Commonwealth games gold medallist and world champion. He is regarded as one of Australia's greatest ever rowers figuring in senior representative squads consistently from 1977 to 1996 and representing Australia on eighteen occasions at three Olympics and fifteen

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 ...

. He competed at the highest levels as both a sculler and a sweep oarsman, in both lightweight and open divisions, across all boat classes. He won twenty-nine Australian national championship titles in his career.

Club and state rowing

Born in

Melbourne, Victoria Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, and 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 ...

, Antonie's senior rowing was done from the

Melbourne University Boat Club Melbourne University Boat Club is a rowing club in Melbourne, Australia. Its clubhouse or "boat shed" is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register in 2000. According its website, the club claims to be "the oldest rowing club in Australia". In 2015, ...

. Antonie was a long serving president of the Melbourne University Boat Club. Starting out as sweep rower Antonie was selected in the Victorian state representative lightweight four to race the Penrith Cup 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 ...

for four consecutive years 1977 to 1980. Those crews won the interstate championship in 1977 and 1978. At the national championships at those same regattas, Antonie raced for the Melbourne University Boat Club in a lightweight four in 1977, 1978 and 1980. They won the national title in 1977 and 78. At each national championship from 1977 to 1980 he backed up to race in an MUBC lightweight eight, winning in 1978 and 1980. By 1981 Antonie had switched to sculling and representing the MUBC he raced for the national Australian lightweight sculling title at the

for six consecutive years from 1981. He won that national title on four occasions. While still an eligible lightweight (max 72.5 kg) by the mid 1980s Antonie was racing at

in all sculling boats against lightweight or open competitors. In 1987 he managed to win three national sculling titles – stroking a

quad scull A quadruple sculling boat, often simply called a quad and abbreviated as a 4x, is a racing shell used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four people who propel the boat by sculling with two oars, or "sculls", one in each h ...

, a

double scull A double scull, also abbreviated as a 2x, is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for two persons who propel the boat by sculling with two oars each, one in each hand. Racing boats (often called "shells") ar ...

and solo in the lightweight single scull. He demonstrated his versatility the following year stroking the Victorian heavyweight men's eight to a

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 ...

victory. From 1990 to 1992 he was the Victorian state representative picked to race the President's Cup (open heavyweight single scull) at the

. He won the interstate championship for Victoria in 1991. From 1977 to 1997 but excepting 1996, Antonie raced at every

and won at least one national title every year. In total he won twenty-nine national championship titles in nine different boat classes.

National representative rowing

Between the commencement of his senior rowing career in 1977 and his final Olympic appearance in 1996, Antonie rowed for Australia every year excepting 1980 and 1995 at the top-level world regatta available for his weight division.

World championships

Antonie was first selected for Australian representative honours in a LM4- for the Amsterdam 1977 which won silver. The following year that crew with bowman Colin Smith replaced by Vaughan Bollen raced at the Copenhagen 1978 and took bronze. He was in an Australian lightweight eight at Bled 1979; a lightweight

at Munich 1981; and in lightweight eights at Lucerne 1982, Duisburg 1983 and Montreal 1984. He was picked to row the lightweight

single scull A single scull (or a scull), abbreviated as a 1x, is a racing shell 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-se ...

for Hazelwinkel 1985 and the following year in the same event, Antonie finally won gold and a World Championship title at Nottingham 1986. At Copenhagen 1987 he came fifth in that same event. By Bled 1989 Antonie was racing in a heavyweight

with

Paul Reedy Paul Reedy (born 21 January 1961 in Robinvale, Victoria) is an Australian former rower. He is a dual Olympian, an Olympic and Commonwealth Games silver medalist who competed over a seventeen-year period at the elite level. He was a fourteen-time ...

. They paired again to race the same event at Lake Barrington 1990 winning a bronze medal. He was picked as Australia's heavyweight sculler for Vienna 1991 delivering a credible fourth place. Then at Raoudnice 1993 and Indianapolis 1994 Antonie made his final World Championship appearances for Australia racing a heavyweight

Olympics

Antonie's first Olympic appearance was at Seoul 1988 where he stroked the

quad QUaD, an acronym for QUEST at DASI, was a ground-based cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization experiment at the South Pole. QUEST (Q and U Extragalactic Sub-mm Telescope) was the original name attributed to the bolometer detector instrume ...

to fifth place. In 1992 again competing in the open division he won Olympic gold with Stephen Hawkins in the men's

at the

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 ...

. He made a third Olympic appearance 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 ...

again in a double scull. Antonie was selected as an Olympic games reserve for Sydney 2000.

Accolades

On 26 January 1987, Antonie was awarded the

Order of Australia Medal The Order of Australia is an Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of then ...

in recognition of services to rowing. He was inducted into the

Sport Australia Hall of Fame The Sport Australia Hall of Fame was established on 10 December 1985 to recognise the achievements of Australian sportsmen and sportswomen. The inaugural induction included 120 members with Don Bradman, Sir Don Bradman as the first inductee and ...

in 1998, and in 2000, he was awarded the

Australian Sports Medal The Australian Sports Medal is an award given to recognise achievements in Australian sport to commemorate Australian participation in major sporting events. Original recipients of the award included competitors, coaches, sports scientists, off ...

for rowing achievements. In 2003 the

International Rowing Federation World Rowing, also known as the World Rowing Federation (officially FISA; ), is the international governing body for rowing. Its current president is Jean-Christophe Rolland who succeeded Denis Oswald at a ceremony held in Lucerne in July 2 ...

awarded Antonie the

Thomas Keller Medal The Thomas Keller Medal is given by the World Rowing Federation (FISA) for an outstanding international career in the sport of rowing. It is the highest honor in rowing and is awarded to any athlete within five years of his/her retirement from the ...

for his outstanding international rowing career. It is the sport's highest honour and is awarded within five years of the athlete's retirement, acknowledging an exceptional rowing career and exemplary

sportsmanship Sportsmanship is an aspiration or ethos that a sport or activity will be enjoyed for its own sake, and with proper consideration for wikt:fairness, fairness, ethics, respect, and a sense of fellowship with one's competitors. A "sore loser" r ...

. In 2010 he was inducted as a member of the Rowing Victoria Hall of Fame.

References

External links

* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Antonie, Peter 1958 births Australian male rowers Olympic rowers for Australia Rowers from Melbourne Living people Olympic gold medalists for Australia Rowers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees People educated at Xavier College Australian Institute of Sport rowers Olympic medalists in rowing Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Commonwealth Games gold medallists in rowing Commonwealth Games rowers for Australia World Rowing Championships medalists for Australia Thomas Keller Medal recipients Rowers at the 1986 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1986 Commonwealth Games Sportsmen from Victoria (state) 20th-century Australian sportsmen