Rob Waddell first competed in the single sculls at Atlanta in 1996 as a 21-year-old, and dominated the event in 2000 to win New Zealand’s only gold medal of the Sydney games. He had also won the world title in successive years 1998 and 1999 but for all his success, he left rowing to pursue a career in sailing. He signed on with Team New Zealand, the America’s Cup holders, as a grinder and competed in regattas around the world as well as the 2003 cup defence which was lost to the Swiss challenger, Alinghi. Waddell returned to rowing in 2007 in an attempt to qualify for the Olympic Games and had a best-of-three match race series against the world champion, Mahe Drysdale, to determine who would compete in the single at Beijing. The series was tied at 1-1 but Waddell in the deciding race was troubled by a heart condition, atrial fibrillation, and lost. He finished fourth, with Nathan Cohen, in the double sculls. In 1998, he married single sculler Sonia Scown (now Waddell), who competed in Sydney and Athens.
New Zealand