James McRae
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James McRae (born 27 June 1987) is an Australian former representative rower. He is a national champion, world champion, three time Olympian, Olympic medallist and record holder. In the Australian men's
quad scull A quadruple sculling boat, often simply called a quad and abbreviated 4x, is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four people who propel the boat by sculling with two oars, or "sculls", one in each hand. R ...
he won a silver medal at the 2016 Summer Olympics and a bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics.


Early life

McRae grew up in Murray Bridge
South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
and attended Murray Bridge Primary school and
Unity College, Murray Bridge Unity College is a Lutheran school in Murray Bridge, South Australia. Unity teaches students from reception to Year 12. There are about 650 students enrolled at Unity College. The current principal is Kaye Mathwin-Cox. Unity College history ...
. He commenced a B. Mech Eng at the
University of Adelaide The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...
in 2007. McRae's siblings Jessica and Ana are Australian rowers who've held South Australian Sports Institute scholarships and won Australian titles. Anna McRae has also competed internationally for Australia.


Club and state rowing

McRae rows from the Murray Bridge Rowing Club. He is a
South Australian Sports Institute Sport plays an important role in the business, community, social and cultural life in South Australia. Sport as entertainment plays an important role with South Australia having the second highest rate of event attendance of all states and terri ...
(SASI) Scholarship holder and was coached by Adrian David a Romanian former international oarsman. For nine consecutive years from 2008 to 2016 McCrae was seated in the South Australian men's eights who contested 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 ...
. In 2007 and 2011 he was also South Australia's selectee to contest the interstate men's
Single scull A single scull (or a scull) is a rowing boat designed for a single person who propels the boat with two oars, one in each hand. Racing boats (often called "shells") are long, narrow, and broadly semi-circular in cross-section in order to mini ...
– the President's Cup. In 2011 he won that event and also rowed in the open men's
Quad scull A quadruple sculling boat, often simply called a quad and abbreviated 4x, is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four people who propel the boat by sculling with two oars, or "sculls", one in each hand. R ...
who won the national title. In October 2009 McRae was awarded life membership of the Murray Bridge Rowing Club for being the club's most successful rower and the club's first Olympian since their entire VIII of 1924 " the Murray Cods" competed at Paris 1924. He undertook a number of public speaking and promotional events after the Beijing games. In April 2010 McRae took part in an 'Active April' event involving
Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...
radio personalities
Tony McCarthy Anthony Paul "Tony" McCarthy (born 9 November 1969) is an Irish retired footballer who is currently the physiotherapist at Shamrock Rovers. Career Tony started his League of Ireland career with University College Dublin in 1987. During his las ...
and John Kenneally. James is currently coaching and teaching at Saint Peter's College Adelaide.


International rowing career

McRae began his international career competing with Matt Bolt in a
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 ...
at the 2005
World Rowing Junior Championships The World Rowing Junior Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by FISA (the International Rowing Federation). A rower or coxswain shall be classified as a Junior until 31 December of the year in which he reaches the age of ...
. McRae competed at the
2008 Beijing Olympic Games 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 Nati ...
in the men's
Quad scull A quadruple sculling boat, often simply called a quad and abbreviated 4x, is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four people who propel the boat by sculling with two oars, or "sculls", one in each hand. R ...
. In their first race at Beijing, the Australian crew of McRae,
Daniel Noonan Daniel Noonan (born 28 October 1979 in Warren, New South Wales) is an Australian former representative rower. He was a national champion, a world champion, a dual Olympian and an Olympic medal winner. Club and state rowing Noonan was educat ...
, Brendan Long and Chris Morgan broke the world record to win their heat. That time of 5:36.20 stood as the Olympic best time until the
2020 Tokyo Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the List of Olympic Games h ...
. The quad finished second in their semi-final to secure a place in the Olympic final. In the final the Australian quad crew was unable to capitalise on their earlier world record form and finished fourth. After Beijing, McRae continued rowing at the highest level, winning a bronze in the men's quad scull at the 2010 World Rowing Championships At the 2011 World Rowing Championships in an upset, the Australian heavyweight quad of McRae,
Daniel Noonan Daniel Noonan (born 28 October 1979 in Warren, New South Wales) is an Australian former representative rower. He was a national champion, a world champion, a dual Olympian and an Olympic medal winner. Club and state rowing Noonan was educat ...
, Karsten Forsterling and Chris Morgan defeated the German crew to win gold. Following a costly mistake in the German boat the Australian crew took the lead in the last few metres of the race and won by 0.25secs. At the
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 ...
, McRae won bronze in the men's quad in a time of 5:45.22. At the
2014 World Rowing Championships The 2014 World Rowing Championships were the 44th edition of the World Rowing Championships and were held from 24 to 31 August 2014 at Bosbaan, Amsterdam in the Netherlands, the second occasion on which the event had been held in Amsterdam, or ...
in
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
he won bronze in the men's pair racing with Alexander Belonogoff. In 2016 along with Karsten Forsterling,
Cameron Girdlestone Cameron Girdlestone (born 29 April 1988) is an Australian representative rower. He is a five-time Australian national champion, a medalist at World Championships, a dual Olympian and an Olympic silver and bronze medallist. He raced in the Aust ...
and Belonogoff, McRae won the silver medal in the Australian quad to at the Rio Olympics 2016.


Coaching career

In 2021, McRae coached the Saint Peter's College First VIII to the schools first ever Schoolboy National Championship. This is something he had been building towards since he began coaching in 2015.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McRae, James Rowers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in rowing 1987 births Living people Olympic silver medalists for Australia Olympic bronze medalists for Australia Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics World Rowing Championships medalists for Australia Australian male rowers South Australian Sports Institute alumni