Noel Donaldson (born 16 December 1955) is an Australian former rowing coxswain and has since 1990 been a prominent and successful world-class rowing coach of Victorian state, Australian national and later, New Zealand national crews.

Rowing career

Donaldson's senior rowing was from 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 1979 he was selected to cox the Victorian men's eight who contested and won the King's Cup at the Interstate Regatta within the Australian Rowing Championships. Donaldson made his sole Australian representative appearance as coxswain of the 1979 Australian men's eight who contested 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. That crew finished in fourth place.Donaldson at World Rowing
/ref>

Coaching career

Donaldson started coaching at Melbourne's

Carey Baptist Grammar School Carey Baptist Grammar School, commonly known as Carey, is an Independent school, independent and co-educational, Baptists, Baptist day school in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The institution consists of five campuses: Kew, Victoria, ...

where James Tomkins stroked the first VIII in both his senior years, 1982 and 1983.Donaldson 2013 retrospective
/ref> Donaldson was instrumental in Tomkins early development and brought him to

. Donaldson successful coaching career was then forged on the consistent performances he extracted from the Tomkins and the rest of the

Oarsome Foursome The Oarsome Foursome is the nickname for an Australian men's rowing coxless four crew who competed with a clear lineage between 1990 and 2012, winning two Olympic gold medals and one silver medal, two world championships as a coxless four, and ...

, Australia's prominent world class crew of the 1990s and early 2000s. Donaldson was consistently the top Victorian men's coach of the 1990s, coaching ten Victorian men's King's Cup eights in that decade to eight victories, one silver and one bronze. In that period he also coached two Victorian women's fours to victory and twice took Georgina Douglas to victory as the Australian single sculling champion at the Interstate Regatta. In the 1990s he coached the

to five World Championship campaigns, winning four gold medals and one silver in fours and pairs combinations. He twice took Georgina Douglas to World Championships in 1998 and 1999. For the World Championships of 2001, 2002 and 2003 he was the Head Men's Coach of the Australian squads. In 2009, 2010 and 2011 he was the coach of the Australian men's eight in their World Championship campaigns. Donaldson took Australian crews to five Olympic games including gold medal victories by the

Barcelona 1992 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 ...

and

Atlanta 1996 The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

. He was the Australian head men's coach for

2004 Athens 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), ...

where the Australians finished as the most successful men's team at the Olympic Regatta. From 2001 to 2003 Donaldson was Head Coach at the Victorian Institute of Sport. From 2004 to 2008 he was the High Performance Director of Rowing Australia. From 2008 to 2012 he was the Head Men's Coach at the Australian National Rowing Centre of Excellence. In 2010 he was inducted into the Victorian Rowing Hall of Fame. In 2013 he took a role as head coach of the New Zealand men's sweep crews in the World Championship campaign and that year coached the coxless pair of

Hamish Bond Hamish Bryon Bond (born 13 February 1986) is a retired New Zealand rower and former road cyclist. He is a three-time Olympic gold medallist at the 2012 London Olympic Games, the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, and at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic ...

and Eric Murray who were at that point in the middle of their six years of world dominance as a coxless pair.

Coaching palmares

Australian interstate regatta

* 1990 Interstate men's eight (Kings's Cup) co-coach Victoria – First * 1991 Interstate men's eight (King's Cup) coach Victoria – First * 1992 Interstate men's eight (King's Cup) coach Victoria – First * 1994 Interstate men's eight (King's Cup) coach Victoria – First * 1995 Interstate men's eight (King's Cup) coach Victoria – First * 1996 Interstate men's eight (King's Cup) coach Victoria – First * 1997 Interstate men's eight (King's Cup) coach Victoria – Third * 1998 Interstate men's eight (King's Cup) coach Victoria – First * 1999 Interstate men's eight (King's Cup) coach Victoria – Second * 2000 Interstate men's eight (King's Cup) coach Victoria – First * 1995 Interstate women's four coach Victoria – First * 1998 Interstate women's four co-coach Victoria – First * 1998 Interstate women's single scull coach Victoria – First * 1999 Interstate women's single scull coach Victoria – Second * 2000 Interstate women's single scull coach Victoria – First * 2004 Interstate men's youth eight co-coach Victoria – Second

World Championships

* 1990 World Championships men's coxless four - Gold * 1991 World Championships men's coxless four - Gold * 1993 World Championships men's eight - 4th * 1995 World Championships men's coxless four - 5th * 1998 World Championships men's coxed pair - Gold * 1998 World Championships men's coxless pair - Silver * 1998 World Championships men's coxed four - Gold * 1998 World Championships women's scull - 8th * 1999 World Championships men's coxless pair - Gold * 1999 World Championships women's scull - 8th * 1999 World Championships men's coxed pair - 4th * 2001 World Championships head men's coach (Australia) * 2002 World Championships head men's coach (Australia) * 2003 World Championships head men's coach (Australia) * 2009 World Championships men's eight coach – 7th * 2010 World Championships men's eight coach – Bronze * 2010 World Championships men's coxed pair coach - Gold * 2011 World Championships men's eight coach – 4th * 2011 World Championships men's coxed pair coach – Silver * 2013 World Championships lead men's sweep coach (New Zealand) * 2013 World Championships NZ men's pair coach - Gold

Olympics

1992 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 ...

men's coxless four coach – Gold *

1996 Atlanta Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

men's coxless four coach – Gold *

2000 Sydney Olympics 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 ...

men's coxless pair coach – Bronze *

women's single scull coach – 5th *

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), ...

Australian head men's coach *

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

men's eight co-coach – 6th

U23 World Championships

* 1994 Nations Cup men's eight coach – 4th * 1997 Nations Cup men's eight coach – 4th * 2003

U23 World Championships U or u, is the twenty-first and sixth-to-last letter and fifth vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''u'' (pro ...

men's single scull co-coach – Gold * 2003

men's l'weight single scull co-coach – Silver * 1994 U23 Trans Tasman series – Australian men's eight coach

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Donaldson, Noel 1955 births Australian male rowers Australian rowing coaches Australian coxswains (rowing) Living people Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees Place of birth missing (living people)