Thomas Gibson (born 6 May 1982 in

Hobart Hobart ( ; Nuennonne/Palawa kani: ''nipaluna'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. Home to almost half of all Tasmanians, it is the least-populated Australian state capital city, and second-small ...

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

) is an Australian lightweight

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 ...

. He is a twelve-time Australian national champion, a world champion and a dual Olympian.

State and club rowing

Gibson's senior club rowing was done from the Huon Rowing Club in Tasmania. From 2004 to 2008 and from 2010 to 2012 Gibson was selected to represent Tasmania in the men's lightweight four contesting the Penrith Cup at the Interstate Regatta within 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 stroked the 2004, 2010, 2011 and 2012 Tasmanian state fours to victory, and also rowed to wins in 2005 and 2006. Wearing Huon Rowing Club colours he contested national lightweight titles at the

from 2004. He competed in the lightweight coxless pair championship in 2005; the lightweight four in 2005, 2007, 2008 ; and the lightweight men's eight in 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2010. He won national titles in 2005 (the pair and the eight); in 2006 and 2010 in the eight; in 2008 in the four and the eight.

International representative rowing

Gibson was first selected for Australia in an U23

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 2002. They raced at the World Rowing Cup II in Lucerne before competing at the 2002

World Rowing U23 Championships World Rowing U23 Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by FISA The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 ("FISA" , ) is a United States federal law that establishes procedures for the physical and electronic sur ...

in Genoa where they won silver.Gibson at World Rowing
/ref> He was the sole member of that U23 lightweight four to remain in the crew into 2003 when they contested the World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne before winning a gold medal at the 2003 U23 World Championships in Belgrade. In 2004 he was selected in the Australian senior lightweight eight and he won a bronze medal at the

2004 World Rowing Championships The 2004 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 27 July to 1 August 2004 in conjunction with the World Junior Rowing Championships on lake Banyoles in Catalonia, Spain. Since 2004 was an Olympic year for r ...

in Banyoles. At Gifu, Japan 2005 he again raced in the lightweight

and finished in fourth place. In 2006 he rowed in the four at World Rowing Cup I and then in the lightweight

double scull A double scull is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for two persons who propel the boat by sculling with two oars each, one in each hand. Racing boats (often called "shells") are long, narrow, and broadly s ...

at WRC II before taking that double scull with Samuel Beltz to the

2006 World Rowing Championships The 2006 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 20 to 27 August 2006 at Dorney Lake, Eton, Great Britain. Medal summary Men Non-Olympic classes Women Non-Olympic classes Wettbewerbe des Pararuderns ...

at Eton Dorney for a fourth-place finish. Throughout 2007 and 2008 Gibson and Beltz stayed together in the lightweight

racing in each year at two World Rowing Cups in Europe before the 2007 World Championships (achieving fourth place) and then the

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

where they finished tenth. Gibson took time off after the Olympics but was back in national contention in 2011 and raced in a lightweight

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 ...

at the World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne. Australia's lightweight men's eight had been successful at the 2010 World Championships in New Zealand winning a silver medal. Gibson's opportunity came when Perry Ward and Angus Tyers were changed out and with Rod Chisholm, Gibson was added to the crew. At the

2011 World Rowing Championships The 2011 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 28 August to 4 September 2011 at Lake Bled in the Slovenian city of Bled. The annual week-long rowing regatta is organized by World Rowing Federation Worl ...

Bled, Slovenia 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 Ca ...

the eight raced their final to perfection coming through the field from the 500mark, sitting second at the 1000 and the 1500, and running down the Italians in the last 200m to take the gold by 0.17seconds, winning Gibson his first senior World Championship title. In 2012 at the last ditch Olympic qualification regatta, Chisholm and Gibson qualified an Australian lightweight double scull through to the

2012 Summer 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 ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. They raced in the Olympic lightweight double sculls event finishing in 13th place overall. Gibson was back again to represent Australia at the elite world level in 2014. He competed in the lightweight coxless four at the World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne and then at the 2014 World Championships. In Gibson's last Australian representative appearance the four finished fifth.

References

External links

*
Webster's coxswain call of the Australian LM8+ World Championship win of 2011
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibson, Thomas 1982 births Living people Rowers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Australian male rowers Olympic rowers for Australia Sportspeople from Hobart World Rowing Championships medalists for Australia Sportspeople from Tasmania 21st-century Australian people Sportsmen from Tasmania