Tokyo Olympics: Hamish Bond (Rowing)

  • 01/01/2021

Hamish Bond

Age: 35

Born: February 13, 1986

Event: Eights

Coach: Tony O'Connor

Height: 1.90m

Previous Olympics: 2008, 2012, 2016

Better known for his unbeatable partnership with Eric Murray in the coxless pair, Bond returns for his fourth Olympics as part of an underdog eight, seeking their first medal since Montreal 1976.

He first cracked the national rowing squad as part of a coxless four that won the 2007 world title and picked up Team of the Year at the Halberg Awards. When they could not repeat that performance the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Bond joined Murray in the two-man boat to claim the first of seven world titles the following year.

At London 2012, they took six seconds off the world record in their heat and won the gold medal by almost five seconds.

In 2014, just for fun, they won both the coxless and coxed four at the world championships, and returned to defend their Olympic crown at Rio 2016, before Murray retired.

Bond switched to road cycling, winning a Commonwealth Games time trial bronze medal at Gold Coast 2018, and then set a 4000m individual pursuit national record in the velodrome, before returning to rowing.

The eight failed to qualify for Tokyo at the 2019 world championships, but won a spot at the Games in a last-gasp regatta at Lucerne in May.

Over his career, Bond - mainly with Murray - has shared the Halberg Supreme Award twice and Team of the Year four times, culminating in the Halberg Decade Champions title in 2021.