The 1972 New Zealand eight was a team of Olympic gold medallists in rowing from New Zealand, having previously won the 1971 European Rowing Championships. At the time, the eight was regarded as the blue ribbon class of rowing, and the sport still had amateur-status in New Zealand, unlike many other nations competing in rowing. After a disappointing Olympic performance at the 1968 Summer Olympics by the New Zealand eight, national selectors Rusty Robertson, Don Rowlands, and Fred Strachan were tasked with assembling a new crew. Robertson was also the team's coach. The next time a New Zealand eight competed was at the 1970 World Rowing Championships, where they came third. The team was once again significantly changed for the next rowing season, with the 1971 edition of the European Rowing Championships and other international regattas beforehand seen as the ultimate test for the 1972 Summer Olympics. The team put up an impressive performance, beat the highly favoured East German eight, and became European champion; at the time the win was regarded as holding world championship status. No further changes were made to the team, not even their seating position, for the 1972 season. Despite a shoe-string budget, financial constraints, and all rowers working part-time, the 1971 success was repeated and the team won Olympic gold in Munich. The president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Avery Brundage, was a zealous advocate of amateurism; he was so impressed by the New Zealand performance that he insisted on handing out the gold medals himself. During the medal ceremony, much to almost everybody's surprise, "God Defend New Zealand" was played instead of the national anthem, "God Save the Queen". It was the impetus for a campaign to make "God Defend New Zealand" the New Zealand anthem, and in 1977 it was gazetted as having equal status to the traditional anthem.
The team won some significant awards and recognition for its successes. The rules of the "Sportsman of the Year Award" had to be changed so that a team could win the supreme award; this was awarded after their European championship win. Brundage also awarded the Taher Pacha Trophy to the team for distinction in amateur sport in 1971. After the Olympic success, the team was again awarded "Sportsman of the Year"; the first time a back-to-back award had been handed out. Rowlands, their manager, was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1973 New Year Honours. Over time, coach Robertson, manager Rowlands, and then the team as a whole were inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame.
Background There were expectations for the New Zealand eight to win a medal at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, but the team came fourth and this was regarded as a failure. The situation was the opposite for the other New Zealand boat in Mexico. The coxed four was technically a spare, the crew had travelled to be available as a reserve for the eight team. The coxed four won an unexpected gold medal. Getting the amateur rowers to Mexico had required a massive fund-raising exercise and the New Zealand rowing association was in no position to send rowers to any international regattas in 1969, but targeted the 1970 World Rowing Championships in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. At the time, the eight was seen as the most important boat class, and three from the Mexico eight trained for the 1970 world championships: Wybo Veldman, John Hunter, and Gil Cawood. Most of the crew of the 1968 coxed four made another four members: Warren Cole, Dick Joyce, Dudley Storey, and cox Simon Dickie. The team was complemented by experienced sculler Murray Watkinson and a young Gary Robertson. Ross Collinge from the Mexico coxed four had attended the trials but missed selection. After having won both its heat and the semifinal in Canada (beating the Soviet Union and West Germany in the latter), the boat came third. East Germany dominated, and the Soviet Union was a mere 0.2 seconds ahead of the New Zealand boat. The team did not gel, and Watkinson's selection became regarded as a mistake; as a single sculler, he had become used to "doing his thing in his own time".
The officials at the time were Rusty Robertson as coach, Don Rowlands as manager, fund-raiser and organiser, and Fred Strachan as strategist. The coach was the uncle of the youngest crew member, Gary Robertson. Robertson had been appointed coach in 1967 and it was then that the national training centre relocated from Auckland to Christchurch, under great controversy. Kerrs Reach on Christchurch's Avon River / Ōtākaro was more convenient to reach for Dunedin-based Strachan than Auckland, and coach Robertson embarked on a daily drive from Oamaru—a return journey–after work whenever there was a training day.
1971 European Rowing Championships The 1971 European Rowing Championships were seen as an important stepping stone in the preparation for the 1972 Olympic Games at Munich. The intention was to select a crew and then make minimal changes prior to Munich. At the time, both the World Rowing Championships and the Summer Olympic Games were held at four-year intervals, and the annual European Rowing Championships in the in-between years were regarded as having quasi-world championship status. Rowing officials decided Watkinson would revert to single sculls, and for Storey to return to the coxed four. Cawood was no longer available. The three were replaced by three developing rowers—Lindsay Wilson, Joe Earl, and Trevor Coker—and they were teamed with the other young rower, Gary Robertson, to form the bow of the boat. The biggest selection surprise was Earl, as he had just turned 18. Although coached by Strachan at St. Andrew's College in Christchurch and known to all but one of the selectors, Earl himself doubted that he would have been chosen ahead of more experienced oarsmen. The experienced rowers chosen for the stern—Cole, Veldman, Joyce, and Hunter—were kept from the 1970 crew. The day before the team was to assemble in Christchurch for their first training, Cole pulled out for family reasons. Tony Hurt from Auckland was chosen to replace him. Joyce was the initial stroke, but this did not work out. He was replaced by Hurt who, although from a sculling background and, at and small for a rower, worked out well for the team. Veldman called him "a brilliant stroke". On Sunday afternoon, the four stern rowers and their bow counterparts would race each other in coxless fours. Dickie recalls that the experienced rowers in the stern had a slight edge, but they did not win every time, and there was great rivalry.
The crew arrived in Europe to find that both their new four and eight Italian Donoratico boats were unsatisfactory. Joyce applied his engineering skills and moved all seats backwards, and that improved the boats' performances. Regattas were rowed in Duisburg and Klagenfurt, and the New Zealanders set new course records at both venues. At the European Rowing Championships, held at the Danish Lake Bagsværd north of Copenhagen, the favoured East Germans, but also the West Germans, also set new course records in their heat, only to be bettered by the New Zealanders in their heat. In the semi-final, New Zealand faced the Soviet Union, the team that had narrowly beaten them for second place at the 1970 World Championships. Both New Zealand and East Germany won their semi-finals in convincing style. The East Germans were the favourites, being the incumbent European and World champions, and they had not been beaten in five years since they came together in age-group competitions. They were full-time athletes, nominally employed by the Police. Veldman described them as being like clones, as their rowers were well matched in height and arm length. There were also rumours of doping, something that would not be confirmed in its full effect across all sports until 1993. The race strategy for the Danish final, where the New Zealand eight would meet the favourites East Germany for the first time, was simple: sprint for the first 500 metres and then somehow hang on to win. Joyce later explained that they all knew that if the East Germans would get in front, they would never get past them again. Throughout the race, the New Zealanders were always ahead. They won with a time of 5:33.92, closely followed by East Germany at 5:34.32, and the Soviet Union in 5:39.74 well back.
Rowlands saw Thomas Keller, the president of the international rowing organisation FISA, shed tears of delight. Avery Brundage, the president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), awarded the team the Taher Pacha Trophy (also known as the Mohammed Taher Trophy) for distinction in amateur sport. In November 1971, the team won the "Sportsman of the Year Award"; it is now known as the "Supreme Award" at the Halberg Awards. The rules had to be altered so that the award could be given to a team. It was the first time that the award was won for rowing.
1972 Summer Olympics
For the next rowing season, Strachan became manager in place of Rowlands. Trials were held in March 1972 in Wanganui, the traditional location for national trials, with the Whanganui River offering good rowing opportunities. Whilst there was an expectation that the crew would stay together, Gary Robertson was personally uncertain of his place and believed that Storey would take his seat. Cole tried to get back into the team but was unsuccessful. Ultimately the team remained unchanged from the previous season.
One of Strachan's first tasks was to unite the rowing fraternity at their annual general meeting behind the plan to send an eight to the Olympics. He was given support, but it was mostly left to the team and their organisers to raise the approximately $25,000 needed for the seven weeks in Europe. To keep costs down, Strachan organised for the rowers to stay in the Bavarian town of Lenggries, about an hour's drive away from the Munich regatta course. Whilst there were no dedicated rowing facilities in Lenggries, the Sylvenstein Reservoir provided good training opportunities. Beyond that, the locals were brilliant hosts and many friendships formed at the time.
The team management had again ordered a shell from Donoratico, and they delivered them two boats; one built exactly as ordered, but a second that the manufacturer thought would finally address all the teams' desires. In addition, they had a Karlisch shell built by Empacher available to them, but it was not well liked. The team preferred the second Donoratico but their coach thought the Karlisch was superior. Again, Joyce was asked to use his engineering skills to make some modifications. A day after he had finished, one of the seats in the Donoratico collapsed and left that boat unusable. From then on, the Karlisch was used.
The first regatta in Germany was a warm-up event at the Olympic rowing course. The New Zealanders, still using their Donoratico, were beaten by the American team. At the next regatta in Hanover, the Americans were beaten by a two–second margin, and the next day the New Zealanders beat the Australian team (second at the 1968 Olympics). A few days out from the Olympics, Earl received news that his father had died on his way to Munich. Whilst doctors had advised against travel due to a weak heart, his parents went nonetheless and his father died when they were in Italy. Earl still went ahead with the competition, and Strachan remarked later that "he still performed". The funeral had to wait until the rowers had returned to New Zealand.