Paul Thompson MBE

Paul Thompson is a man of many talents and skills, but his proficiency in rowing and coaching are among the best in the world. Paul grew up in Canberra, played under age representative rugby and rowed locally, nationally and internationally, until a bicycle accident ended his rowing career. Hired by the AIS, in 1988 Paul pioneered the introduction of Talent Identification to target recruits from non-rowing schools.  This was the first TID program in Australia and a model copied by other sports and adopted by rowing internationally – one the athletes from that first intake was Megan Marcks (nee Still) who Paul went onto coach to Olympic gold in 1996.   Inducted: 2017 Associate Member