Eric Verdonk

Eric Franciscus Maria Verdonk ( born May 28, 1959 in Taihape ) is a former New Zealand rower who in the one reached in 1988 and 1992, the Olympic finals.

Life

Verdonk is the son of Dutch parents who had come to New Zealand in 1953. He began with the Rowing at the Westlake Boys' High School in Auckland and in 1973 he joined the North Shore Rowing Club in Auckland on. But in 1986 he won his first national title. At the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh in 1986, he finished in third place behind the one British Steven Redgrave and the Australian Richard Powell, in the double sculls Verdonk reached the fourth place. The World Rowing Championships 1987 Verdonk finished sixth in one. A year later, he also reached the final at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul and won the bronze medal behind the two German rowers Thomas Lange and Peter -Michael Kolbe. Two years later, Verdonk won at the World Championships 1990 at the Tasmanian Lake Barrington another bronze medal behind the starting nor the Soviet Union Estonia Jüri Jaanson and Vaclav Chalupa from Czechoslovakia. After a fifth place finish at the World Rowing Championships in 1991 in Vienna Verdonk reached at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona the finals again and fought together with the Poland Cajetan Broniewski for bronze behind Long and Chalupa, the poles crossed the finish line 63 hundredths of a second before Verdonk.

Verdonk worked alongside and after his career as a boat builder, after twenty years, he moved to an insurance office. He also remained active as rowers in the master classes.

New Zealand championship title

  • One: 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993
  • Double sculls: 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1994
  • Sculls: 1991
  • Two without: 1986
1986 Commonwealth Games Rowing at the 1988 Summer Olympics Václav Chalupa Rowing at the 1992 Summer Olympics
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