John O'Brien (1 June 1927 – 25 February 1995) was a

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

representative

rower Rowing, often called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars (called blades in the United Kingdom) are attached to the boat using rowlocks, while paddles are ...

. At the

1950 British Empire Games The 1950 British Empire Games were the fourth staging of what is now called the Commonwealth Games. It was held in Auckland, New Zealand, between 4 and 11 February 1950, after a 12-year gap from the third edition of the games. A documentary fil ...

he won the gold medal as part of the men's coxed four. At the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics (, ), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad (, ) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952, were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1952 in Helsinki, Finland. After Japan declared in ...

he competed as part of the coxed four again, but the crew did not make the final.

References

1927 births 1995 deaths New Zealand male rowers Olympic rowers for New Zealand Rowers at the 1952 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 1950 British Empire Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for New Zealand Rowers from Whanganui Commonwealth Games gold medallists in rowing Medallists at the 1950 British Empire Games 20th-century New Zealand sportsmen {{NewZealand-rowing-bio-stub