- In full:
- Hamish Bryon Bond
- Born:
- February 13, 1986, Dunedin, New Zealand (age 40)
- Awards And Honors:
- Olympic Games
- rowing (2021)
- rowing (2016)
- rowing (2012)
Hamish Bond
-
Who is Hamish Bond?
Hamish Bond (born in Dunedin, New Zealand, on February 13, 1986) is a rower who has won gold medals in three consecutive Summer Olympic Games (2012, 2016, and 2020).
Bond began rowing at age 13. He has a bachelor's degree in business studies and a postgraduate degree in personal financial planning from Massey University.
Internationally, Bond began racing in 2003 at the World Rowing Junior Championships in Athens. He is best known for competing in two-oar and eight-oar vessels. With teammate Eric Murray, Bond won 69 consecutive races. After taking a break from rowing, Bond participated in competitive cycling events, winning a bronze medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Bond retired from rowing in 2022 and became a cyclor for Emirates Team New Zealand in 2023.
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What sport is Hamish Bond famous for?
Hamish Bond is most famous for rowing, where he achieved significant success. He won gold medals at three consecutive Summer Olympic Games (2012, 2016, and 2020). Bond began rowing at age 13 and raced internationally from 2003 onward, achieving 69 consecutive wins with teammate Eric Murray. After a break, where he won a bronze medal in cycling at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Bond returned to rowing and won another gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
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With whom did Hamish Bond win many rowing titles?
Hamish Bond won many rowing titles with Eric Murray. Together, they were undefeated internationally, winning 69 consecutive races, including multiple World Cups and World Rowing Championships. At the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics, Bond and Murray won gold medals in the two-oar race. In 2021, Bond won his third Olympic gold medal in the eight-oar race.
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Which Olympic medals has Hamish Bond won?
Hamish Bond is a New Zealand rower who has won three gold medals in the Summer Olympic Games. He won gold in the 2012 and 2016 Summer Olympics in two-oar vessels with teammate Eric Murray. After taking a break from rowing, Bond returned to the sport to compete in an eight-oar vessel, where he and his teammates won gold at the 2020 Summer Olympics, earning Bond his third Olympic gold medal.
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What other sport did Hamish Bond compete in at an elite level?
Hamish Bond, the New Zealand rower, also competed in competitive cycling events at an elite level. After taking a break from rowing, Bond participated in cycling, winning a bronze medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the time trial event. Furthermore, he was a three-time national cycling champion. In 2023, after retiring from rowing in 2022, Bond switched sports again and became a cyclor for the Emirates Team New Zealand yacht crew.
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How has Hamish Bond contributed to New Zealand sports history?
Hamish Bond has greatly enriched New Zealand sports history, most notably in rowing. Beginning his international career in 2003, Bond achieved phenomenal success, especially after pairing with Eric Murray in 2009. Together, they were undefeated internationally, securing numerous World Cups and World Rowing Championships.
Bond's contributions include three consecutive Olympic gold medals: in 2012 and 2016 with Murray in the two-oar race, and in 2020 in the eight-oar race. Beyond rowing, Bond also won a bronze medal in cycling at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and has been a three-time national cycling champion. His achievements have earned him and Murray New Zealand's supreme Halberg Award in 2012 and 2014, the Thomas Keller Medal in 2018, and the title of Supreme Decade Champions in 2021.
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Hamish Bond (born February 13, 1986, Dunedin, New Zealand) is a New Zealand rower who won gold medals in three consecutive Summer Olympic Games—in 2012, 2016, and 2020.
Bond began rowing in school, when he was 13 years old. He later attended Massey University in New Zealand. There he received a bachelor’s degree in business studies and a postgraduate degree in personal financial planning.
Bond began racing internationally in 2003, at the World Rowing Junior Championships in Athens. (In the sport of rowing, each athlete works one oar with two hands. Bond was best known for competing in two-oar vessels [with two people, each with one oar] and in eight-oar vessels [with eight people].) In Athens he competed in the eight-oar race, and his team came in sixth. In 2005 Bond began racing in a four-oar vessel (with four people), and the team had some success at many of the major international competitions. Two years later he and his teammates won the gold medal at the World Championships in Munich. The next year, at the Summer Olympics in Beijing, the team came in seventh place.
In 2009 Bond paired with Eric Murray, a teammate from the four-oar crew, to compete in two-oar races. They were undefeated internationally throughout their racing career, winning 69 consecutive races. Their wins included multiple World Cups and World Rowing Championships. At the finals of the 2014 World Rowing Cup II in Aiguebelette, France, Bond famously took his right hand off the oar and briefly dipped it in the water while still maintaining a rowing rate of 38 strokes per minute.
At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Bond and Murray won the gold medal, with a time of 6 minutes 16.65 seconds. A few days earlier, while competing in the first heat to qualify to race in the final, the duo set a world record, with a time of 6 minutes 8.50 seconds. At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Bond and Murray repeated their gold medal win.
Bond and Murray took a break from competing together after the Olympics, and Murray retired in 2017. Bond spent the next few years participating in competitive cycling events. He was successful in a few time trials, including winning the bronze medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games held on the Gold Coast of Queensland, Australia. (A time trial is a form of competition in which individual cyclists or teams are sent out at intervals to cover a specified distance on a road course. The contestant with the fastest time for the distance wins.) In addition, Bond was the national champion in cycling three times. By 2019, although he continued to compete in cycling, he had returned to rowing to take a spot in an eight-oar vessel.
Bond and his teammates competed in the World Rowing Championships in Ottensheim, Austria, in 2019. They finished in sixth place. The team still had to qualify for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo. However, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down most events worldwide, including sports events, and postponed the Olympics. Finally, in May 2021, just two months before the Olympics were scheduled to start, Bond and his teammates won the gold medal at the World Rowing Final Olympic Qualification Regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland. The team thus won a spot to compete at the Olympics. There they won the gold medal in the eight-oar race, giving Bond his third Olympic gold medal in rowing.
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Bond retired from rowing in 2022. The next year, he again switched sports, becoming a cyclor on the Emirates Team New Zealand yacht crew, who will defend the America’s Cup title in 2024. (On some America’s Cup teams, grinders, who used their arms to turn winches that would trim the sails, have been replaced by cyclors, who pedal to power the hydraulic system that trims the sails.)
Bond and Murray won New Zealand’s supreme Halberg Award, honoring the top achievement in sports, in 2012 and 2014. They made the 2013 New Year Honours List as Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit for their contributions to rowing. In 2018 they received the Thomas Keller Medal, which the World Rowing Federation awards for outstanding international careers in the sport of rowing. In 2021 the duo were named the Supreme Decade Champions at the Halberg Awards presentation. They became Companions of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2023.