Joshua's Story
Geelong rower Josh Dunkley-Smith made his second Olympic appearance at Rio again in the men's coxless fours, adding another silver to his collection.
The Aussies took on the reigning Olympic Champions Great Britain, in what was destined to be a great A-Final tussle between the two semi-final winning crews. The Australians were challenging the British at the halfway mark, with only 0.22 of a second separating the two crews. As they approached the 1500 metre mark the British began to edge away from Australia, by half a boat length, and the defending champions held on to win the title that they have not relinquished since the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
Despite only starting the sport at 15-years-old Dunkley-Smith has had a successful senior career including a silver medal at the 2015 World Championships. Olympic champion Drew Ginn teamed up with Dunkley-Smith in 2011 and despite the 15-year age difference, formed a formidable partnership, taking out the men's pair title at the 2011 National Championships. William Lockwood and James Chapman were then added to the boat to form the men’s four for the 2012 London Games, which also took home silver.
Since London, accompanied by a new crew, Dunkley-Smith continued to enjoy success in the men’s four, with medals at multiple World Cups as well as silver and bronze at the 2013 and 2014 World Championships respectively.
Dunkley-Smith's mother, Addy Bucek is a dual Olympian in sailing - 1992 Barcelona and 1996 Atlanta Games. He travelled with his mother to the Olympic Games and grew up familiar with the life of an athlete which inspired him to become an Olympian himself.
