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Ross Collinge

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Ross Collinge
Noel Mills (bow) and Collinge (seat 2) at the 1971 European Rowing Championships
Personal information
Birth nameRoss Hounsell Collinge
Born21 November 1944 (1944-11-21) (age 80)
Lower Hutt, New Zealand
Height187 cm (6 ft 2 in)[1]
Weight85 kg (187 lb)[1]
Sport
SportRowing
Medal record
Men's rowing
Representing  New Zealand
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1968 Mexico Coxed four
Silver medal – second place 1972 Munich Coxless four
World Rowing Championships
Bronze medal – third place 1975 Nottingham Eight

Ross Hounsell Collinge (born 21 November 1944) is a former New Zealand rower who won two Olympic medals.

Collinge was born in 1944 in Lower Hutt, New Zealand.[1] He trained as a pharmacist at Petone Technical College.[2] In rowing, he attracted attention due to his strong performance at the 1967 New Zealand championships, where he rowed for the Hutt Valley team; Dick Joyce was one of his team members.[2] For the 1968 Summer Olympics, New Zealand qualified an eight and had a pool of four rowers and a cox as a travelling reserve; Collinge was part of this reserve. Preparations were held in Christchurch at Kerr's Reach on the Avon River. The reserve rowers were unhappy with the "spare parts" tag and felt that they were good enough to perhaps win a medal if put forward as a coxed four. The manager, Rusty Robertson, commented about them that they were "the funniest looking crew you've ever seen".[3] There were stern discussions with the New Zealand selectors. In a training run, the coxed four was leading the eight over the whole race. In the end, the reserve rowers got their way and New Zealand entered both the coxed four and the coxed eight.[4] Collinge won the Olympic coxed four event along with Dick Joyce, Dudley Storey, Warren Cole and Simon Dickie (cox);[5] this was New Zealand's first gold medal in rowing.[3] At the time, Collinge had newly qualified as a pharmacist, and recently married. The crew's winning boat was sold to a rowing club to recoup costs, and ended in splinters after a road crash.[6] At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich Collinge teamed with Dick Tonks, Dudley Storey and Noel Mills to win the silver medal in the coxless four. He rowed with the coxed eight in the 1975 World Rowing Championships in Nottingham, Great Britain, and won a bronze medal.[7]

He is married to Valerie Collinge with whom he had two children. He has one grandson currently living in Wellington, who has announced he aspires to be a rower like his grandad to "Carry on the family tradition".[2] Since the 1980s, they have been living in a house adjacent to the house of the Indian High Commissioner in Lower Hutt.[8]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Ross Collinge". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 28 September 2016.
  2. ^ a b c "Ross Collinge". New Zealand Olympic Committee. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  3. ^ a b "Famed New Zealand Olympic rower Dudley Storey dies". Stuff. 6 March 2017. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
  4. ^ "New Zealand Rowing at the 1968 Ciudad de México Summer Games". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
  5. ^ "Rowing at the 1968 Ciudad de México Summer Games: Men's Coxed Fours". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2016.
  6. ^ White, Mike (May 2018). "The greatest race you never heard of: NZ's first gold medal in rowing". North & South. 386: 58–66.
  7. ^ "(M8+) Men's Eight - Final". International Rowing Federation. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
  8. ^ Rutherford, Hamish; Downes, Siobhan (27 June 2015). "Indian High Commissioner rejects claims staff member was treated like a slave". Stuff. Retrieved 6 March 2017.
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