Simon Dickie

Simon Charles Dickie (31 March 1951 – 13 December 2017) was a New Zealand rowing cox who won three Olympic medals.

Simon Dickie
Personal information
Birth nameSimon Charles Dickie[1]
Born(1951-03-31)31 March 1951
Waverley, Taranaki, New Zealand
Died13 December 2017(2017-12-13) (aged 66)
Taupo, New Zealand
EducationWanganui Collegiate School
Height172 cm (5 ft 8 in)[1]
Weight54 kg (119 lb)[1]
Sport
SportRowing
ClubWellington Rowing Club[1]
Medal record
Men's rowing
Representing  New Zealand
Olympic Games
1968 Mexico Coxed four
1972 Munich Eight
1976 Montreal Eight
World Rowing Championships
1970 St. Catharines Eight
European Rowing Championships
1971 Copenhagen Eight

Dickie was born in 1951 in Waverley in Taranaki, New Zealand.[2] He was educated at Wanganui Collegiate School where he was part of the Maadi Cup winning crews between 1966 and 1968. For the 1968 Summer Olympics, New Zealand qualified an eight and had a pool of four rowers and a cox as a travelling reserve; Dickie was part of this reserve as their cox. 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 trainer, 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 fours formed from 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] Dickie won the Olympic coxed four event along with Dick Joyce, Dudley Storey, Ross Collinge and Warren Cole;[5] this was New Zealand's first gold medal in rowing.[3] At the time, he was a 17-year-old schoolboy at Wanganui Collegiate, called in to replace a previous cox who had been killed in a training accident. The crew's winning boat was later sold to a rowing club to recoup costs, and ended up in splinters after a road crash.[6]

Dickie was part of the eight that was formed for the 1971 rowing season; he teamed up with Dick Joyce, Tony Hurt, Wybo Veldman, John Hunter, Lindsay Wilson, Joe Earl, Trevor Coker and Gary Robertson. They won gold at the 1971 European Rowing Championships, defeating the favourite team from East Germany.[7] The New Zealand eight would go on in unchanged composition to with the 1972 Olympic eight event where they again won gold.[8] At the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal he was again cox for the eight which this time won the bronze medal. His crewmates this time were Tony Hurt, Alec McLean, Ivan Sutherland, Trevor Coker, Peter Dignan, Lindsay Wilson, Joe Earl and Dave Rodger.

Dickie is one of only fifteen New Zealanders to have won two or more Olympic gold medals. He later owned an adventure company in Taupo.[9]

Death

He died at his house in Taupo on 13 December 2017. He was 66 years old.[10] The day prior to his death, he had held a reunion for the 1968 coxed four, and he was involved in organising a reunion for the 1972 coxed eight at the next Halberg Awards function.[11][6] He is survived by his wife, Adi, and his three daughters.[12]

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References
  1. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Simon Dickie". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 8 March 2017.
  2. "Simon Dickie". New Zealand Olympic Committee. Retrieved 9 November 2016.
  3. "Famed New Zealand Olympic rower Dudley Storey dies". Stuff.co.nz. 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 8 March 2017.
  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". 22 August 1971. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  8. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "New Zealand at the 1972 München Summer Games". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  9. Maddaford, Terry (26 July 2002). "Rowing: Stroking aside the decades". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  10. "Double gold medallist rowing cox Simon Dickie dies suddenly". Stuff.co.nz. 13 December 2017. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  11. "Rowing: Double Olympic gold medallist Simon Dickie passes away". The New Zealand Herald. 13 December 2017. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
  12. "In Memoriam - Simon Dickie". Rowing New Zealand. Retrieved 16 December 2017.
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