It’s tempting to break New Zealand rowing down into three golden eras:
- The domination of the single sculls world champions, Billy Webb, Dick Arnst and Darcy Hadfield a century of more ago.
- The late 1960s and early 1970s, with a fours Olympic gold medal in 1968 and the famous eights gold in 1972 as the highest points.
- The fantastic rowing results from the late 1990s up to the Tokyo Olympics – Rob Waddell, the Evers-Swindell twins, Mahe Drysdale, Hamish Bond and Eric Murray, Emma Twigg and so many others who’ve provided golden moments.
But in focusing on these three eras, it’s all too easy to gloss over another great New Zealand rowing feat, the back-to-back Empire Games gold medals of Reg Douglas and Bob Parker in the pair oar in Vancouver in 1954 and at Lake Padarn, Wales, in 1958.
Bob Parker died in 2009, at the age of 74. But Reg Douglas, born in 1930, is still going strong at the age of 93 and is now New Zealand’s oldest living Olympian.
Douglas and Parker rowed for the Mercer club in the 1950s. Each won seven national titles. They won six together in the coxless pair and double sculls. In addition, Douglas won the national single sculls title in 1951 and Parker helped Mercer to a national fours title in 1956.
They really only came together in 1953, when Parker was still a junior, but they gelled immediately, with Parker in the stroke position.
Reflecting many decades later, Douglas said they probably didn’t do the miles they should have in training, though they both had physical jobs, and rowing was part of their lives.
“I lived in Mercer for 37 years and grew up with the Waikato River. If I wanted to get out of Mercer, I’d have to row across the river. I rowed to school and back each day. That was my first experience of rowing, but it became part of my life.”
He said they were extremely proud to represent New Zealand.
“It wasn’t like now. You might only go overseas every two years for a sports event, so it felt wonderful to be rowing for our country. Of course, then we had to win when we got there.”
“It wasn’t like now. You might only go overseas every two years for a sports event, so it felt wonderful to be rowing for our country. Of course, then we had to win when we got there.”
In Vancouver, most New Zealand attention was focused on the super-talented Yvette Williams, who won golds in the long jump, shot put and discus. There were four other New Zealand golds at those Games – Don Rowlands won the single sculls, Jack Doms in the 220 yards breaststroke, Don Jowett in the 220 yards, and the Douglas-Parker combination in the pair oar.
They had a tough task in their final, rowing against a three-knot current as well as strong, experienced combinations from Australia and England. But the rough water never worried them. As Douglas said: “We enjoyed the rough water. Our coach used to tell us to train in rough conditions because sometimes that’s what it would be like when we raced.”
Parker, the stroke, watched the Australians closely, feeling they were the greatest threat, but England skimmed across the water almost level with the New Zealanders, and provided unexpected danger.
It was tight all the way, but the pair from Mercer crossed first in 8min 23.9s, only 0.2s ahead of England but well clear of Australians.
“We were very happy, of course,” said Douglas. “Prince Philip presented us with our medals.”
They tried for a second gold in the double sculls. But that final was only an hour after the pair oar victory and the effort told. Nevertheless, they secured the silver, finishing in 8min 5.2s, 11 seconds down on Australia, but well clear of Canada.