Tomkins chose to “jump in”
a pair with the team’s spare
man and fellow Victorian,
Matthew Long. With hardly
any practice, the two men
won brilliantly in Lucerne
and took Olympic bronze
in Sydney.
>
Rotsee in 2002, Tomkins’ fluid, nonchalant length
destroyed Pinsent and Cracknell’s power-based
stroke. But the Aussies were caught napping o; the
start later at the World Championships in Seville
and were beaten in a new World Best Time by
Great Britain.
the acknowledged leader of a young Aussie crew.
Unsurprisingly, he found it hard to hang up his oars,
and even flirted with a London 2012 comeback. The
award of the 2010 Thomas Keller medal is a fitting
tribute to one of rowing’s iconic figures.
James Tomkins carries the
Olympic Torch through a crowd
of school children in Melbourne,
Australia, in the lead up to the
2000 Sydney Olympic Games.
■ Martin Cross
Ginn’s recovery set
up the gladiatorial
struggle between the
Australian and British
pair of Pinsent and
Cracknell. The duel
between these two
crews electrified the
sport. At their f i r s t
meeting
in a heat
on the
But it was di;erent at the 2003 World Rowing
Championships in Milan. And revenge was sweet
for Tomkins and Ginn, who gained a crucial and
telling psychological advantage over their rivals.
The Aussies won comfortably. The British – who
finished back in 4th place – subsequently chose
to move out of the pair and into a four for their
Athens campaign. From there, Tomkins went on
to take his third Olympic gold medal in 2004.
Four years later, Tomkins achieved the kind of
sporting Valhalla that he loved, when the 42-year-
old was chosen to be his country’s flag bearer in
Beijing’s opening ceremony. By then, the 42-year-
old was a sporting legend and an inspiration to
countless Australians, both young and old.
© 2008 Cameron Spencer/Getty Images
James Tomkins carries the
Australian flag during the
Opening Ceremony of the 2008
Olympic Games in Beijing, China.
So 23 years on there was a beautiful symmetry
between his first and last international strokes.
When Tomkins’ eight crossed the bubbles of
the Beijing finish line – in a disappointing
sixth place – he was rowing in a crew which
contained rowers some of whom weren’t
even born when Tomkins first raced, back
in 1985. Yet in both boats Tomkins was
