Jack's Story
Fast Facts
Sport: Rowing
Event: Men’s Eight
Olympic History: Olympic Debutant
Coach: Rhett Ayliffe and Ian Wright (Head Coach)
Highlights: Winning gold medals at the 2019 World Rowing Cups 2 and 3
Year Born: 1998
Born: Dubbo, NSW
About Jack
Rowing was not the first sport of choice for a young Jack O'Brien who grew up in the far west NSW town of Walgett. His rowing career started when he attended boarding school at St Joseph's College in Sydney and his height and size made him an encouraging rowing prospect
O’Brien first earned national team selection in 2018, where alongside Andrew Judge, he competed at the U23 World Championships in the Men's Pair. In the same year, the Australian duo raced at World Rowing Cup 3 where they finished seventh in the same boat class.
O’Brien’s top career achievements undoubtedly occurred during the 2019 season, when as part of the Australian’s Men’s Four, the 23-year-old earned gold at World Rowing Cups 2 and 3.
O'Brien was invited to attend the Reinhold Batschi Men's National Training Centre in Canberra where he trained under Rhett Ayliffe as a member of the Men's Eight and it was in this boat class that he made his Olympic debut in Tokyo.
There, the Australian crew came up against rowing powerhouses in their Heat, including World Champions Germany as well as the USA and Romania. The fast race was dominated early by the American and German crews with Australia finishing fourth behind Romania to proceed to the repechage.
The crew was able to advance to the A-Final after they finished the repechage in fourth position, this time ahead of the Romanians, and they once again faced a stacked field in the race for medals. Racing out of lane six against the USA, New Zealand, Germany, the Netherlands and Great Britain, the Australian crew was behind at the start and unable to make up the time or speed throughout the race they finished sixth overall.
Read More
