Name Mike McKay Education Xavier College | Role Olympic athlete | |
Olympic medals Rowing at the 2000 Summer Olympics – Men's eight Similar People Stuart Welch, Ben Hunt‑Davis, Andrew Lindsay, Niksa Skelin, Steve Trap | ||
Michael Scott McKay, OAM (born 30 September 1964), commonly known as Mike McKay, is an Australian rower and a four-time Olympic medalist. He was educated at Xavier College in Kew, Melbourne.
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Biography
In 1990, McKay, with Nick Green, Sam Patten, James Tomkins began racing the coxless four. Their success was immediate. They won the 1990 and 1991 World Rowing Championships. And with Andrew Cooper replacing Sam Patten, they followed up with a gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. The crew's success gained them the nickname Oarsome Foursome.
The boat repeated its Gold medal performance at the 1996 Summer Olympics, this time with Drew Ginn replacing Andrew Cooper.
In 1998, McKay, with the other members of the Oarsome Foursome, teamed to win the coxless four, and McKay with Drew Ginn placed second in the coxless pair. In 1999, the boat would go on to try out, but lose the 1999 Australian selection trials in the four without. Nick Green retired, Tomkins and Ginn decided to switch to the coxless pairs, and McKay tried out for the Australian eight which ended up finishing seventh at the World Championships.
McKay made the eight for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, and the boat came in as one of the favorites. They won their opening heat, but in the finals, the British crew got out to an early lead, which they managed to hold until the end nipping the Australian eight, which finished second, by 0.8 seconds.
McKay was again in the Australian eight for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. The boat finished third behind the United States and the Netherlands.
In 1993, McKay and the other members of his 1992 Olympic boat were awarded the Order of Australia.
In May 2011 it was announced that Mckay is to be the CEO of the new GreenEdge Cycling Team which will begin competing in 2012.
In 2007 he was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.
Achievements
Thomas Keller Medal: For an outstanding career in rowing. Presented at the III Cup Event in Lucerne