4 minute read
All About the Work
Twenty-six years ago, BGS Old Boy David Weightman ’88 teamed up with Perth oarsman Rob Scott to win a silver medal in the Senior Coxless Pair at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.
In doing so, Weightman became the first BGS alumni to win an Olympic medal in rowing, and one of a select few to win a medal in any discipline. Yet Weightman, now 51, believes what happened after the race is of equal significance.
Both men have since built successful careers in the corporate world, with Scott now Chief Executive Officer of Wesfarmers, and Weightman an Executive Director at Macquarie Bank.
The rigours of rowing, Weightman said, instilled in him characteristics such as teamwork, discipline and resilience – all of which have been invaluable to the “main game” of life after sport.
“A successful rowing career is not all gold medals and glory; sometimes it feels like you’re lurching from one disaster to another. The resilience you gain from that is invaluable,” he said.
“One of the good things about rowing is that it’s an amateur sport, so you can never kid yourself that you’re going to make any money out of it.
“People told me from very early on to use rowing as a means to an end, which was really good advice. Even when I was competing at the Olympics I was studying and working at the same time.”
During his final year at BGS, Weightman played rugby for the First VX in winter and rowed with the First VIII in summer.
“If I didn’t go to Grammar, I probably wouldn’t have taken up rowing, but it combined well with my schoolwork because you need to be organised, you need to turn up on time, you need to be disciplined and you need to work in a team,” he said.
“In rowing, there’s a really good correlation between effort expended at training and results – more so than other sports.
“To be a good rugby player you need a bit of magic, whereas in rowing its more about your work ethic. And that’s encouraging, because the harder you work the better you get.”
For that reason, Weightman is adamant that rowing is a perfect reflection of the School’s motto, nil sine labore – nothing without work.
It’s a message that Weightman has passed on to his four sons –David ’18, Hugh ’20, Drew ’21 and Ned (Year 12) – as they followed in his footsteps at BGS.
All four boys made the First VIII in Year 11, and Hugh and Drew were both part of the First VIII crew that won the GPS Head of the River in 2020.
As president of the Tipperoo rowing support group at BGS, Weightman is proud of the new generation of rowers emerging from what he admits has been lean period for the School’s rowing program.
One of the standout performers is Old Boy Patrick ‘Paddy’ Holt ’16, who represents Australia in the Men’s VIII while also studying at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS).
Holt, 23, graduated from UTS with a Bachelor of Business in 2021 before commencing another degree in Engineering and Science at the same university.
Although Weightman remains the only BGS Old Boy to win an Olympic medal in rowing, he sees great potential in Holt, who, like him, won the J.M. ‘Jack’ Kortlang Award for Best Oarsman at BGS.
“At Grammar you learn the benefits of keeping up the schoolwork, so it’s good to see Paddy is doing well in both rowing and university,” said Weightman.
“It would be great to see someone like Paddy go one better than me and win gold sooner rather than later.”
