Double gold medallist rowing cox Dickie dies suddenly

Simon Dickie, the coxswain who urged and guided New Zealand to its most famous Olympics rowing victory, has died suddenly. He was 66.

His death has been confirmed by Rowing New Zealand.

Dickie was the cox for the rowing eight which won gold at the 1972 Olympics in Munich.

At their medal ceremony, ‘‘God Defend New Zealand’’ was played for the first time at an Olympics, replacing ‘‘God Save the Queen’’ as the national anthem, causing much pride in the living rooms back home as people watched on TV.

Four years earlier, Dickie won his first Olympics gold medal as cox of the coxed fours, which won New Zealand’s first rowing gold medal with their triumph in Mexico.

After his rowing career, Dickie became a prominent businessman in Taupo, latterly specialising in running bird shoots on an historic rural property near the tourism resort.

Athol Earl, a teammate in the gold medal eight, said he and his fellow rowers were ‘‘gobsmacked’’ at the news of Dickie’s death.

‘‘He was the last one we would have expected...he was a real larger than life character.

‘‘It’s a big shock.’’

Earl said Dickie was a standout as a cox.

‘‘No one ever came near him. He had an outstanding talent for reading crews and reading races and had a knack of changing the race plan just at the right time.’’

Dickie was a confident sportsman and that carried over into his business ventures, Earl said.

He was prominent in kiwifruit, fishing and adventure sport ventures in Taupo, as well as the bird shoots.

Dickie told Stuff last year that it was incredible team effort that brought glory for the rowing eight in Munich. Trevor Coker, Earl, John Hunter, Tony Hurt, Dick Joyce, Gary Robertson, Wybo Veldman and Lindsay Wilson produced a superlative display and never looked like being headed by silver medallists East Germany and third-placed United States.