How do you define greatness? A mind-bending feat that surpasses expectation and rationality? A moment of authentic surprise that inverts the weight of pressing odds? Or perhaps an incision in the linear unfurling of your heart?
In sport, we are quick to anoint greatness upon each other. A performance that impresses us is often bestowed the virtue of greatness before it can even truly be understood. It is easy to attach brilliance onto bravery and boldness but sometimes the two should not be conflated. True greatness should combine mastery, magnanimity and more than a hint of magic.
The Olympic Games is our ultimate magic show. A procession of truly elite talent, operating at the pinnacle of their sport and thrust forward into a limelight fostered by four years of relative translucency. These two weeks are stitched into the very fabric of competition, dating back to the lore of Ancient Greece, and have transcended the politics of modern society to become the ultimate marker in sporting excellence. To win Olympic Gold gives you immortality of a rare and timeless specification – your story will be perpetuated forevermore, carried forward by the whispers of generations to come, who too aim to climb those sacred steps and join this club of champions. Emerging over the horizon, this time in the blue and red hue of palatial Paris, we are ready for the very fastest in rowing to be crowned.
Step forward, my friends – The Olympic Games have come.
The Stats
Country
New Zealand
Crew Names
Ollie Maclean
Logan Ullrich
Tom Murray
Matt MacDonald
Average Age
26 years
Olympic Record
First in the M8+ at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games (Murray, MacDonald)
Sixth in the M8+ at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games (Murray)
2024 Competitive Record
World Rowing Cup 1: N/A
World Rowing Cup 2: 2nd (M4-)
World Rowing Cup 3: 1st (M4-)
European Championships: N/A
The Profile
New Zealand have only ever won one Olympic medal in the men’s coxless four and that was gold back in 1984. Their crew for Paris has a really, really good chance of not only ending the medal drought but also repeating the gold medal performance. The crew is anchored by two Tokyo gold medallists from the eight – Matt MacDonald and Tom Murray. Murray is the “granddaddy” of the crew; he’s been part of the senior Kiwi team for over a decade and won back-to-back U23 titles in 2013 and 2014 and was part of the Kiwi eight that finished sixth in Rio. After Rio, he took over the daunting mantel of his namesake, Eric as half of the NZL men’s pair, winning bronze at the 2017 worlds and then silver in 2019. For Olympic year the Kiwis famously stacked their eight, coming away with an historic gold medal. MacDonald was also part of that Olympic crew, having raced in the four in 2018 and then moving into the eight for 2019. Maclean and Ullrich are, by comparison, relative newcomers to the senior team. Both were US educated, both won medals at U23 level and made their senior debuts as part of the four in 2023. The Kiwis finished the 2023 season with a world championship bronze medal. This season they’ve made a huge impression on the field, taking silver in Lucerne (beating the GB four for the first time since 2013) and then comprehensively beating their antipodean rivals at the final World Rowing Cup. The battle for the gold is going to be really tight, but I feel the Kiwis just have the edge.
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