Conrad Christian Robertson (born 27 December 1957) is a former New Zealand
rower
Rowing, sometimes called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars are attached to the boat using oarlocks, while paddles are not connected to the boat. Rowing is di ...
who won an Olympic Gold medal at the
1984 Summer Olympics
The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...
in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
.
Early life
Robertson was born in 1957 in
Devonport.
His father is the boat builder Chris Robertson, who established a boat-building business on the
North Shore in 1960.
Conrad Robertson married Sarah Lucas, the sister of the wheelchair racer
Ben Lucas. The Robertsons have three children.
Rowing
Robertson was a member of the
North Shore Rowing Club
North Shore Rowing Club is the oldest sporting club on the north side of Sydney Harbour in Sydney, Australia formed in 1879. It has occupied its current site on the Lane Cove River at Yacht Bay, Longueville since 1933. The club has a focus on mas ...
.
He won the first of his six Premier Redcoat National Rowing titles in the coxless pair with Mike Stanley in 1979. Perhaps his most impressive victory was three years later when he won the New Zealand nation championship in the 1982 men's single sculls title by defeating the five time national champion John Alexander from Whakatane as a Premier sculler at Lake Waihola. The following year in 1983 at Lake Horowhenia he won the historic and famed 'Boss Rooster' trophy in the coxed four with Mike Stanley, Rogar White-Parsons and Barrie Mabbott, and coxswain Andrew Hay. Later he was the three time consecutive national champion in the double sculls with Eric Verdonk in 1987, 1988, and 1989.
On an international level, his first competition was at the
1978 World Rowing Championships
Events January
* January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213.
* January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...
at
Lake Karapiro
Lake Karapiro () is an artificial reservoir lake on the Waikato River at Karapiro, south-east of Cambridge in New Zealand's North Island. The lake was formed in 1947 by the damming of the Waikato River to store water for the 96-megawatt Karap ...
, where he rowed with David Clayton-Greene (bow) in the coxed pair; they came eighth overall. At the
1979 World Rowing Championships
The 1979 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 30 August – 9 September 1979 at Bled in Slovenia, Yugoslavia.
Medal summary
Men's events
Women's events
Medal table
This table does not include th ...
in
Bled
Bled (; german: Veldes,''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 146. in older sources also ''Feldes'') is a town on Lake Bled in the Upper C ...
, Yugoslavia, he won a silver medal with the New Zealand eight. Robertson was selected to compete at the
1980 Summer Olympics
The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...
in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
with the New Zealand eight but did not compete due to the
Olympics boycott.
At the
1981 World Rowing Championships
The 1981 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 30 August to 6 September 1981 at Oberschleißheim outside Munich, West Germany.
Medal summary
Men's events
Women's events
Medal table
References
...
in
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
, he came seventh with the New Zealand eight. At the
1983 World Rowing Championships
The 1983 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 3 to 4 September 1983 at Wedau in Duisburg, West Germany.
Medal summary
Men's events
Women's events
Medals table
Seventeen nations won medals of th ...
in
Duisburg
Duisburg () is a city in the Ruhr metropolitan area of the western German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. Lying on the confluence of the Rhine and the Ruhr rivers in the center of the Rhine-Ruhr Region, Duisburg is the 5th largest city in Nor ...
, Germany, he stroked the gold medal winning coxed four with
Greg Johnston (3 seat),
Keith Trask
Keith Charles Trask (born 27 November 1960) is a former New Zealand rower who won an Olympic gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Early life
Trask was born in 1960 in Hastings, New Zealand. Trask has a twin brother Paul. Thei ...
(2 seat),
Les O'Connell
Leslie James O'Connell (born 23 May 1958) is a New Zealand former representative rower. He was a two-time world champion and an Olympic champion who won his Olympic gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in the men's coxless four ...
(
bow), and
Brett Hollister
Brett James Hollister (born 19 May 1966) is a former New Zealand rowing cox who won an Olympic bronze medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. Since 2004, he had held management positions for rugby union and is the current chief execut ...
(
cox
Cox may refer to:
* Cox (surname), including people with the name
Companies
* Cox Enterprises, a media and communications company
** Cox Communications, cable provider
** Cox Media Group, a company that owns television and radio stations
** ...
). Along with Les O'Connell,
Shane O’Brien and Keith Trask he won gold in the
coxless four
A coxless four is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four persons who propel the boat with sweep oars, without a coxswain.
The crew consists of four rowers, each having one oar. There are two rowers on th ...
at the
1984 Summer Olympics
The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...
at
Lake Casitas
Lake Casitas is a reservoir in Ventura County, California, built by the United States Bureau of Reclamation and completed in 1959. The project provides drinking water and water for irrigation. A secondary benefit is flood control. It was the ven ...
in California. At the
1985 World Rowing Championships
The 1985 World Rowing Championships refer to the World Rowing Championships held from 26 August to 1 September 1985 at Hazewinkel in Belgium.
Medal summary
Medalists at the 1985 World Rowing Championships were:
Men's events
Women's even ...
at
Hazewinkel
The Hazewinkel is a 2,000 m rowing and regatta course belonging to Bloso in Heindonk, municipality of Willebroek, near Mechelen, Belgium. The site consists of a finishing tower, boathouses, a cafeteria and eight basic huts that house athl ...
, Belgium, he came twelfth in the quad sculls.
Since the mid-1990s, Robertson has been a selector for
Rowing New Zealand
Rowing New Zealand is the sports governing body for rowing in New Zealand. Its purpose is to provide leadership and support to enable an environment of success for the New Zealand rowing community. This includes secondary schools, clubs, masters ...
.
Robertson Boats
His father bought new premises for the boat-building business in
Warkworth in 1981. Soon afterwards, Chris Robertson retired, and brothers Martin and Conrad Robertson took over the business. At a later point, Conrad Robertson bought out his brother and has since then been the sole owner of the business, which is now known as Robertson Boats.
Robertsons has built the Kawau Kat fleet.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robertson, Conrad
1957 births
Living people
New Zealand male rowers
Olympic gold medalists for New Zealand in rowing
Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics
Rowers at the 1984 Summer Olympics
World Rowing Championships medalists for New Zealand
Rowers from Auckland