Boden Joseph "Bo" Hanson (born 7 August 1973 in
Port Kembla, New South Wales
Port Kembla is a suburb of Wollongong 8 km south of the CBD and part of the Illawarra region of New South Wales. The suburb comprises a seaport, industrial complex (one of the largest in Australia), a small harbour foreshore nature reserve ...
) is a four time Australian Olympian rowing, three time Olympic medalist, specialist coaching consultant, corporate trainer and presenter.
[.] Hansen won his three bronze medals at the Atlanta (1996), Sydney (2000) and Athens (2004) Olympic games
His professional career includes founding high-performance consultancy Athlete Assessments in 2007, and Team8 which presents to corporate audiences.
Sporting career
Club and state rowing
Hanson was educated at
Brisbane State High School where he took up rowing.
Hanson's first state senior representation came in 1993 when he was selected to stroke the Queensland men's senior eight contesting the
King's Cup at the
Australian Rowing Championships
Australian(s) may refer to:
Australia
* Australia, a country
* Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia
** European Australians
** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists
** Aboriginal Aus ...
. He raced in further Queensland
King's Cup eights in 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004 and he stroked those crews on several occasions.
Hanson first contested national titles at the
Australian Rowing Championships
Australian(s) may refer to:
Australia
* Australia, a country
* Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia
** European Australians
** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists
** Aboriginal Aus ...
in 1991 when he won both the U19 pair and the U19 coxed four national championships in Brisbane Grammar Old Boys crews. In 1994 he contested the national single sculls title in University of Queensland Boat Club colours. Later when he relocated to Sydney he rowed from the
UTS Haberfield Rowing Club
UTS Haberfield Rowing Club in Sydney was formed as Haberfield Rowing Club in 1925. It has occupied its current site on Port Jackson's, Iron Cove at Dobroyd Point since 1926. The club had a senior and lightweight Sydney premiership & national com ...
.
International representative rowing
Hanson's Australian representative debut was in 1991 at
Junior World Rowing Championships in Banyoles Spain when he raced in the Australian junior coxless four who took the silver medal.
At the
Barcelona Olympics
The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...
in 1992, Bo Hanson made his Olympic debut becoming Australia's the youngest-ever rowing Olympian still aged eighteen.
He rowed in the seven seat of the Australian men's eight who made the Olympic final and finished in fifth place.
He held a seat in the Australian eight into 1993 and competed at the
1993 World Rowing Championships
The 1993 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 30 August to 5 September 1993 at Račice, Czech Republic.
Medal summary
Men's events
Women's events
Medal table
References
{{World Rowing Cha ...
where the eight placed fourth.
In 1994 Hanson moved into Australian representative sculling crews. He was selected at stroke in the men's quad scull who competed at the
1994 World Rowing Championships
The 1994 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 11 to 18 September 1994 at Eagle Creek Park, Indianapolis
Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of ...
in Indianapolis to a fourth place.
Hanson and
Duncan Free
Duncan Seth Free (born 25 May 1973) is a retired Australian rower and Olympic gold medallist. He is dual Olympian and two-time world champion who represented Australia at four world rowing championships in both sculls and sweep oared boats. He ...
were constant in the quad into 1995 and were joined by Ron Snook with Hanson retaining the stroke seat. They finished in eight place at the
1995 World Rowing Championships
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...
.
Hanson competed in his second Olympic Games at
Atlanta 1996 where he won a bronze medal in the quadruple sculls
with Snook, Free and
Janusz Hooker
Leslie Janusz Hooker (born 28 September 1969) is an Australian businessman and former Australian national champion and representative rower who won a bronze medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.
Family background and education
Hooker's grand ...
new to the bow seat.
Hanson took a break after Atlanta and then moved back into sweep oared boats in 1998 and again into representative contention. Australia's prominent crew of the early nineties, the
Oarsome Foursome were in their first year of a post Olympics comeback in 1998 and they raced in coxed boats. Together with
Ben Dodwell and the twins
Geoff and
James Stewart, Hansen moved into the Australian men's coxless four with their eyes on a 2000 Olympics campaign. They were up against the gun British foursome including
Steve Redgrave and
Matthew Pinsent
Sir Matthew Clive Pinsent, (; born 10 October 1970) is an English rower and broadcaster. During his rowing career, he won 10 world championship gold medals and four consecutive Olympic gold medals.
Since retiring, he has worked as a sports br ...
. At the
1998 World Rowing Championships
The 1998 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 9 to 18 September 1998 in Cologne, Germany. The World Rowing Championships are organized by FISA, the International Rowing Federation.
Medal summary
Men' ...
Hanson and the Australian coxless four finished in fourth place. At the
1999 World Championships in St Catharines Canada, they won a silver medal behind Great Britain.
Hanson, Dodwell and the Stewarts remained together into the
2000 Olympic year and in the lead-up they rowed at two World Rowing Cups in Europe. At
Sydney 2000
The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...
with Hanson at stroke they again came up against the same champion British four they'd met in 1998 - Redgrave, Pinsent,
James Cracknell
James Edward Cracknell, (born 5 May 1972) is a British athlete, rowing champion and double Olympic gold medalist. Cracknell was appointed OBE for "services to sport" in the 2005 New Year Honours List.
Biography
Cracknell began rowing whilst ...
and
Tim Foster
Timothy James Carrington Foster, MBE (born 19 January 1970) is an English rower who won a gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.
Career
He began rowing at Bedford Modern School and competed in the World Rowing Junior Ch ...
. The British went out the fast in the first 500m and maintained the lead thereafter. The Italians got into 2nd place in the second 500m and also held that spot. The Australians left their run till the 3rd 500m and could never recover to better than third place.
The Australian's took bronze and Redgrave's fairytale five Olympic gold medal came true.
In the next Olympiad Hanson didn't compete at a single World Championship or World Cup although he continued to row at the elite national level. He was selected for the
2004 Athens Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...
in the six seat of Australian men's eight who took the bronze medal in Athens.
It was Hansen's last representative appearance.
High performance consultant and presenter
During the later stages of his career, Bo attempted to understand how his behaviour related to his training, racing and performance results.
Hanson studied the DISC behavioural theory, the Myers Briggs Personality Type Indicator, Emotional Intelligence and Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP).
Using DISC behavioral profiling, Hansen found his last years of rowing more enjoyable and successful.
Athlete Assessments
Hanson commenced a professional career post-rowing using the experiences gained at the Olympics as well as formal university education, and training and development qualifications.
With a team of sports coaches, IT developers and other DISC accredited professionals, Hansen developed AthleteDISC, and started the business Athlete Assessments in 2007.
That business developed the first sports version of DISC theory and behaviour profiling.
CoachDISC, a similar tool specifically for sports coaches, followed in early 2009.
After client requests, in early 2011 the ManagerDISC was launched as a development tool specifically for sports managers and administrators.
Assessments created the first online sports-specific behavioural profiling tools for athletes, sports teams and coaches.
Hanson is accredited in the use and administration of the
Myers–Briggs Type Indicator
In personality typology, the Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is an introspective self-report questionnaire indicating differing psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions. The test attempts to assign ...
,
DISC Profiling and Emotional Intelligence (Emotional Competence Inventory 360).
Team8
In the business Team8, Hanson trains and presents to clients such as American Express, Bain Consulting, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ, Macquarie Bank, Insurance Australia Group and Telstra.
Hanson's presentations include leadership development and all aspects of teamwork - goal setting, team attitudes and communication.
Hanson draws unique parallels between the world of elite sport and high performance business.
Fitzroy Australia Resources
Commencing in September 2019, Bo began presenting a series of team leadership modules in partnership with Fitzroy Australia Resources to their Carborough Downs colliery employees.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hanson, Bo
Australian male rowers
Olympic rowers for Australia
Rowers at the 1992 Summer Olympics
Rowers at the 1996 Summer Olympics
Rowers at the 2000 Summer Olympics
Rowers at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Olympic bronze medalists for Australia
1973 births
Living people
Olympic medalists in rowing
People educated at Brisbane State High School
Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics
World Rowing Championships medalists for Australia
People from the Illawarra
Sportsmen from New South Wales