Stuart MacKenzie
Encyclopedia
Stuart MacKenzie (born 5 April 1937) is an Australia
n competition rower
and Olympic medalist, who also competed for Great Britain at the 1962 World Championships.
He received a silver medal in single sculls at the 1956 Summer Olympics
in Melbourne
. He was reputed to have miscounted the distance, due to not realising the spacing of the buoys changed from 100m to 50m in the last 250m of the race, and so stopped temporarily while still 100 metres from the finish.
At the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
he won a gold medal in single sculls and also set a Commonwealth Games record (7:20.1 mins), and he received a silver medal in double sculls with Mervyn Wood
.
He won the Diamond Challenge Sculls
at Henley Royal Regatta
six times, consecutively, from 1957 to 1962 and won the Silver Goblets partnering Chris Davidge
in 1963. He was also noted for his gamesmanship, including going out for practice sessions wearing a bowler hat
Mackenzie took part in an event of the Henley Royal Regatta where he was way ahead of all other rowers when he stopped rowing and tried to adjust his cap. However, the reason was to give time to his opponents to catch up with him as it happened. Then he started rowing again and he easily managed to get away, be faster and end first.
Although favoured to win the gold medal at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, he fell ill before the race and had to withdraw.
After refusing to return to Australia from Europe for trials for the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games to be held in Perth, MacKenzie rowed for Great Britain at the 1st rowing World Championships
in Lucerne, finishing second to his great rival Vyacheslav Ivanov
MacKenzie was inducted into the International Sporting Wall of Fame in 2008.
Stuart visited South Africa in 1958, and rowed on the Vaal River at Billabong, near Vereeniging. He took part in the SA Championships and won the Double Sculls event with his trainee, John Eden.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n competition rower
Sport rowing
Rowing is a sport in which athletes race against each other on rivers, on lakes or on the ocean, depending upon the type of race and the discipline. The boats are propelled by the reaction forces on the oar blades as they are pushed against the water...
and Olympic medalist, who also competed for Great Britain at the 1962 World Championships.
He received a silver medal in single sculls at the 1956 Summer Olympics
1956 Summer Olympics
The 1956 Melbourne Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was held in Melbourne, Australia, in 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, which could not be held in Australia due to quarantine regulations...
in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
. He was reputed to have miscounted the distance, due to not realising the spacing of the buoys changed from 100m to 50m in the last 250m of the race, and so stopped temporarily while still 100 metres from the finish.
At the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games
The 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games were held in Cardiff, capital of Wales from 18–26 July 1958.Thirty-five nations sent a total of 1,130 athletes and 228 officials to the Cardiff Games and 23 countries and dependencies won medals, including, for the first time, Singapore, Ghana, Kenya...
he won a gold medal in single sculls and also set a Commonwealth Games record (7:20.1 mins), and he received a silver medal in double sculls with Mervyn Wood
Mervyn Wood
Mervyn Thomas Wood, LVO, MBE, QPM was an Australian rower of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. He was a four-time Olympian and three-time Olympic medalist. He later rose to become the Police Commissioner of the New South Wales Police Force.-Biography:Wood was the youngest of four children born in...
.
He won the Diamond Challenge Sculls
Diamond Challenge Sculls
The Diamond Challenge Sculls is a rowing event for men's single sculls at the annual Henley Royal Regatta on the River Thames at Henley-on-Thames in England...
at Henley Royal Regatta
Henley Royal Regatta
Henley Royal Regatta is a rowing event held every year on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. The Royal Regatta is sometimes referred to as Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage...
six times, consecutively, from 1957 to 1962 and won the Silver Goblets partnering Chris Davidge
Chris Davidge
Christopher Guy Vere Davidge is a former British rower who competed in the Summer Olympics three times in 1952, 1956 and 1960 and won the Silver Goblets at Henley Royal Regatta three times....
in 1963. He was also noted for his gamesmanship, including going out for practice sessions wearing a bowler hat
Mackenzie took part in an event of the Henley Royal Regatta where he was way ahead of all other rowers when he stopped rowing and tried to adjust his cap. However, the reason was to give time to his opponents to catch up with him as it happened. Then he started rowing again and he easily managed to get away, be faster and end first.
Although favoured to win the gold medal at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, he fell ill before the race and had to withdraw.
After refusing to return to Australia from Europe for trials for the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games to be held in Perth, MacKenzie rowed for Great Britain at the 1st rowing World Championships
1962 World Rowing Championships
The 1st World Rowing Championships were held at Lucerne, Switzerland in 1962.The Fédération Internationale des Sociétés d'Aviron did not recognise East Germany, and so only one German crew was permitted per event. Selection trials between East and West German crews were held the day before the...
in Lucerne, finishing second to his great rival Vyacheslav Ivanov
Vyacheslav Nikolayevich Ivanov
Vyacheslav Nikolayevich Ivanov is known to most of the non-Russian speaking world as Vyacheslav Ivanov, was one of the most accomplished rowers of his generation...
MacKenzie was inducted into the International Sporting Wall of Fame in 2008.
Stuart visited South Africa in 1958, and rowed on the Vaal River at Billabong, near Vereeniging. He took part in the SA Championships and won the Double Sculls event with his trainee, John Eden.