Scotch College

Drew and James taste Olympic Gold

Drew Ginn (’92) capped off a successful return to international rowing when he was first across the line to win a gold medal in

the coxless pair event at the Athens Olympic Games. Drew was forced to sit out the

Sydney Olympic Games after a serious back injury and watched his pair partner, James Tomkins, win a bronze medal with Matt Long, rowing together in the ‘Drew Ginn’.

Drew started rowing at Scotch in 1991 as a member of the 4th VIII coached by Lawrie Stokes. In 1992, Drew rowed in the seven seat of Scotch’s winning Head of the River crew, jointly coached by James Tomkins and Lawrie Malcolm.

The relationship that started at Scotch has grown stronger over the years and has now seen Drew and James win two Olympic gold medals together.

Drew is one of a select group of students to have colours in four sports. In 1991 he was a member of Scotch’s 1st Basketball team that won the Premiership. In 1992 he was in the 1st VIII, played in the ruck in the 1st XVIII and ran a sub 2 minute 800m at the APS Athletics Sports.

After leaving school, Drew, following James’ advice, continued rowing at Mercantile Rowing Club and soon earned selection in the Victorian Youth VIII then the Australian VIII. In 1996 when Andrew Cooper decided not to continue rowing, Drew won a seat in the ‘Oarsome Foursome’ for the Atlanta Olympics where they scored a wonderful win.

When Nick Green retired, Drew and James decided to row together in a coxless pair and they won a gold medal at the World Championships in 1999. They were expected to represent Australia at Sydney and would have gone into the regattas as favourites.

Following surgery to his back, Drew spent a long period of rehabilitation and gradually came back to rowing. He joined up again with James to row at the 2002 World Championships in the coxless pairs. They went into the final as favourites but started slowly and were never able to catch the British pair of Pinsett and Cracknell and they eventually finished 4th.

In 2003 they were back again at the World Championships and dominated the final, scoring a convincing win. They were subsequently named FISA Male Crew of the Year and became favourites for the Athens Olympics.

They chose to not race overseas but trained in Melbourne, Geelong and Queensland before heading overseas. The manner in which they won their heat, semi final and final showed that they had their strategy just right.

Rowing in a boat built in Geelong by Jeff Sykes and Associates and coached by Chris O’Brien, James and Drew rowed the perfect race at Athens.

Drew has made an amazing comeback and, together with James, they have represented themselves, their families, their schools, Mercantile Rowing Club and Australia with distinction and always with a sense of dignity and a concern for others. Congratulations on a wonderful performance from two outstanding Australians.

Greg Baker
Chairman of Rowing