Andrew Matheson is set to leave his high performance manager
role with Rowing New Zealand (RNZ) to take up the equivalent
position in Australia.
Matheson would not comment today but NZPA understands he has
been in negotiations with Australian officials and is close
to going down the same road as Wallabies rugby coach Robbie
Deans.
A Rowing Australia source said Matheson had been aggressively
pursued to fill a new role created as the organisation
expands ahead of the 2012 London Olympics.
If he accepts the offer, Matheson will work in conjunction
with the Australian Institute of Sport programme and appoint
two head coaches, to lead the respective men's and women's
crews.
Matheson, who has been with RNZ since 2002, rowed for New
Zealand in the mid-1990s and won a world championship silver
medal with the coxed four.
He has overseen a successful period for New Zealand rowing,
featuring multiple world championship performances and two
successful Olympic campaigns.
New Zealand won a gold medal at the Beijing Games through
double scull twins Caroline and Georgina Evers-Swindell and
two bronzes -- to single sculler Mahe Drysdale and men's pair
George Bridgewater and Nathan Twaddle.
Australia won two gold medals and one silver at the same
regatta, exceeding their expectations.
Meanwhile, BikeNZ high performance manager Mark Elliott,
squashed similar reports that he was also crossing the Tasman
to join Cycling Australia.
"I'm good to go for New Zealand for the next quadrennial, no
doubt about that," Elliott told NZPA.
`'I've made a commitment to BikeNZ that would take some crazy
money out of Qatar for me to even consider changing."
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