Malcolm William Batten (born 12 March 1964) is an Australian former state and national champion, World Champion, Olympian and Commonwealth Games gold medal-winning rower.

Club and state rowing

Batten was born in

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and commenced his rowing career in 1979 as a coxswain with the North Esk Rowing Club in Launceston. He rowed for a season in 1982 with the Tweed Heads Rowing Club prior to moving to Brisbane and joining the Commercial Rowing Club. He was one of the first

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

scholarship holders in 1985 and held full AIS scholarships from 1985 to 1988. He moved to Melbourne in 1988 and joined the

Mercantile Rowing Club The Mercantile Rowing Club is based in Melbourne, Australia on the Yarra River. It was founded in 1880 and has occupied its current site since 1885. More than 40 Mercantillians have represented Australia at Olympic Games. Club history A group o ...

. In 1988 he was one of the founders of the

RMIT RMIT University, officially the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology,, section 4(b) is a public research university in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1887 by Francis Ormond, RMIT began as a night school offering classes in art, scienc ...

Rowing Club. Wearing club colours but racing in AIS combinations Batten competed for national titles at the Australian Rowing Championships in pairs and fours from 1986. He won the Australian national title in AIS

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 ...

in 1987 and 1988. He stroked AIS eights to victory in Queensland state championships in 1988, 1989 and 1990 with that 1988 crew also winning the New South Wales state championship that year. Batten competed twice at the Australian Rowing Championships in the men's Interstate Eight-Oared Championship – the King's Cup. He stroked the Queensland King's Cup eight in 1988 and he raced in the victorious Victorian crew of 1990.

International representative rowing

Batten's first national representative selection was to the 1985 Match des Seniors in Banyoles, Spain – the equivalent at the time of today's World Rowing U23 Championships. Batten stroked the Australian men's eight to a silver medal. That same crew represented Australia in the men's eight selected for the 1985 Trans-Tasman U/23 regatta held on Lake Ruataniwha in New Zealand. Batten's first senior representative selection was to

1986 World Rowing Championships The 1986 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 17 to 24 August 1986 at Nottingham in the United Kingdom. Medal summary Looking at the open weight classes only, East Germany was the most successful nation ...

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

, England. He rowed in the two seat of the victorious Australian men's

eight 8 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 8 or eight may also refer to: Years * AD 8, the eighth year of the AD era * 8 BC, the eighth year before the AD era Art *The Eight (Ashcan School), a group of twentieth century painters associated with the As ...

. It was Australia's first and only World Championship title in the men's eight. That same year at the

1986 Commonwealth Games The 1986 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a 'Cho-fhlaitheis 1986) were held in Edinburgh, Scotland, between 24 July and 2 August 1986. They were the second Games to be held in Edinburgh. Thirty two of the eligible fifty nine countries (largel ...

in Edinburgh, in that same crew Batten won gold in the Australian men's VIII. At the

1987 World Rowing Championships The 1987 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 29 to 30 August 1987 in Copenhagen, Denmark while it was "outrageously windy". Medal summary Medalists at the 1987 World Rowing Championships were: Men's ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Batten was again in the two seat of Australian eight. That crew placed fourth.Batten at World Rowing
/ref> For the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

in Seoul, Batten was beaten out for his seat in the Australian men's eight by South Australian rower

Hamish McLachlan Hamish Angus McLachlan (born 28 August 1975) is an Australian sports broadcaster and host with Seven Sport. Since he joined the Seven Network in January 2008, he has been a host/presenter/reporter at multiple events, including being a part of ...

. Batten and Sam Patten were selected in the squad as reserves for the eight and qualified a

coxless pair A coxless pair is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for two rowers, who propel the boat with sweep oars. The crew consists of a pair of rowers, each having one oar, one on the stroke side (rower's right h ...

. They raced in heats at the Seoul Olympics but were eliminated in the repechage. His final national representative racing was as the stroke of the men's eight for the

1991 World Rowing Championships The 1991 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 19 to 25 August 1991 in Vienna, Austria. The regatta was held on the New Danube. Medal summary The finals were raced on Saturday and Sunday, 24 and 25 August ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. They finished tenth.

After rowing

Following competitive retirement Batten coached at

St Catherine's School, Toorak (Nothing is great unless it is good) , established = 1896 , type = Independent, day & boarding school , years = ELC–12 , gender = Girls , denomination = Non-d ...

from 1992 to 1994. Since 2011 he has been the president of

. He is a partner and managing director of the Melbourne headquartered international construction business Cockram Construction. Since 2017 that company has been part owned by the Japanese international firm

Kajima is one of the oldest and largest construction companies in Japan. Founded in 1840, the company has its headquarters in Motoakasaka, Minato, Tokyo. The company is known for its DIB-200 proposal. The company stock is traded on four leading Jap ...

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Batten, Malcolm 1964 births Living people Australian male rowers Sportsmen from Tasmania Olympic rowers for Australia Rowers at the 1988 Summer Olympics World Rowing Championships medalists for Australia Commonwealth Games medallists in rowing Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Rowers at the 1986 Commonwealth Games Sportspeople from Launceston, Tasmania Medallists at the 1986 Commonwealth Games