Eric Murray

Eric Murray at the 2010 World Cup

Eric Gordon Murray MNZM (born May 6, 1982 in Hastings ) is a former New Zealand rower who won eight world titles and two Olympic gold medals.

Murray began rowing in 1997. In 2003 he took part in a world championship final for the first time: he took fifth place with the four-man with helmsman . He was also fifth at the 2004 Olympic Games , this time in a four-man without a helmsman . In the coming years he competed in this boat class, finishing at the World Rowing Championships in 2005 to sixth place and at the 2006 World Rowing Championships ninth. In 2007 Carl Meyer , James Dallinger , Eric Murray and Hamish Bond won the World Cup in Amsterdam and took third place in Lucerne. The four New Zealanders won the title at the 2007 World Rowing Championships in Munich. In the Olympic season the four reached the A-final twice in the World Cup, but only finished sixth in Lucerne and fifth in Poznan. At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, they missed the A final and finished seventh in the final score.

In 2009, Bond and Murray switched to the two without a helmsman , in this boat class the two remained unbeaten in the World Cup and at all international championships until 2016. They won sixteen World Cup races as well as the 2009 , 2010 and 2011 World Championships , with the British Peter Reed and Andrew Triggs Hodge each receiving World Championship silver. At the 2012 Olympic Games in London , Murray and Bond rowed the gold medal in front of the French two. At the 2013 World Rowing Championships in Chungju they rowed the gold medal again. The following year, Murray and Bond competed at the 2014 World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam both in a two-man without a helmsman and in a two-man with a helmsman; the two New Zealanders won the world championship in both boat classes, with Caleb Shepherd being the helmsman . In 2015, Murray and Bond no longer competed in two with a helmsman, but their dominance remained in the uncontrolled two. At the 2015 World Championships , they won their sixth consecutive world title and had a six-second lead over Britons James Foad and Matt Langridge at the finish . In 2016, the two New Zealanders continued their winning streak, at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro they won Olympic gold for the second time, their gap to the runner-up from South Africa was almost three seconds.

Murray's partner Bond switched to cycling after the 2016 Olympics. Murray, however, ended his active career in April 2017. In July 2018, Murray and Bond were awarded the Thomas Keller Medal .

Web links

• Eric Murray in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Eric Murray at Worldrowing.com ( FISA database )