Peter Antonie
Olympic Gold Medallist and WLRA Founder
With a career spanning over twenty years, Peter is a World, Commonwealth and Olympic sculling champion. With an abundance of experience and expertise, he is passionate about seeing lightweight rowing thrive.
I rowed lightweight for Australia for 10 years in almost all boat classes. Whilst I had some very average results, I won medals in the Lwt 1x, Lwt 4- and Lwt 8+. The competition was very tough but it was very fulfilling. I have many friends from those who I rowed with and from the competitor nations I rowed against. I respect them all.
To be truthful, before I started rowing, I was not good at sport, and I didn’t care much. Rowing gave me everything. I rowed for Australia from 1977 to 2000 and roughly half of that time was as a lightweight and half was as a heavyweight. I won medals in both categories. This included silver in the lightweight men's four at the 1977 World Championships and three subsequent World Championships medals, which included a gold in 1986 in the lightweight men's single. I also won gold in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games for the men’s double.
I have coached at school and club level, and I was President of Melbourne University Boat Club for over 20 years. I owe my club a huge amount. I am a founder and part of a team that hosts “The Melbourne head” a really big head race in Melbourne Australia every year and I have coached at school and club level.
In 2003, I was also enormously proud to have been awarded the Thomas Keller Medal for an outstanding career in rowing and exemplary sportsmanship.
I have decided to advocate for lightweight rowing as I have seen the numbers diminish and I want to see that turned around. After all, so many of us are of lightweight size. I want to see lightweight rowing thrive and I want all past, present, and future lightweight rowers to be able to connect with a voice.
I also want to see lightweight rowing in all manner of rowing events globally. I feel that lightweight rowing is very important to the health of our sport of rowing. I want to see the great aspects of lightweight rowing preserved, encouraged, and grown. Ultimately, I feel that I am lucky to be a rower and I want to give back.