Mahé Drysdale

Alexander Mahé Owens Drysdale, MNZM ( born November 19, 1978 in Melbourne) is a New Zealand rower. He was from 2005 to 2009 four consecutive world champion in rowing One (2008 no world championships were due to the Olympic Games held in the Olympic boat classes). At the Olympic Games in London in 2012, he won the victory in the One.

Born in Australia Drysdale grew up in Tauranga. When he Accounting and Business Law studies at the University of Auckland, he began at the relatively advanced age of 18 years with the rowing. Due to the double burden of study and part-time work he rowed at first only a little. After he had, however, followed in 2000, the Olympic victory of Rob Waddell on TV, he decided to include targeted training. He was after graduation professional rowers 2001.

Drysdale in 2002 took part in the first Rowing World Cup. At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens he reached with the New Zealand coxless four fifth. Then he moved to one and won at the 2005 World Championships in Gifu the gold medal, despite an injury that he had a few months earlier sustained in a collision with a water skier. At the 2006 World Championships at Dorney Lake at Eton, the second world title with a new world record followed.

2007 Drysdale won the Rowing Course on the third world title in a row and seemed set for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. But then he was beaten by Rob Waddell, who resigned in the meantime and had participated as a sailor in the America's Cup twice, in a club race surprising. It flared up an exciting contest for the Olympic qualification, the Drysdale 2-1 victories decided in March 2008 for themselves. For Olympic race in Beijing on August 16, 2008 Drysdale went to weakened because he had previously suffered from a gastrointestinal infection. He could not lived up to meet and won the bronze medal.

At the 2009 World Championships in Poznan, then followed the fourth world title in a row, with 6:33:35 minutes again in a new world record.