#Rowing: The new High Performance Director for Irish rowing will be Antonio Maurogiovanni. The Italian will take up the role in August.

Maurogiovanni rowed for Italy at the 1988 Seoul and 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games in the four and eight respectively.

As a coach he was involved in seven Olympic Games with several nations including Italy, the Netherlands, and Australia. He moves on from his role with Rowing Australia as Head Coach with the Western Australian team after 15 years. He said he was excited to take up the new challenge.

He said rowing has been his passion and made up much of his life. “It has taken me from Italy to Australia to the Netherlands and back to Australia and now to Ireland. I look forward to applying the experience and knowledge I have acquired over the years and using it to the best of my ability to bring success in Ireland.”

Hamish Adams, the chief executive of Rowing Ireland, said: “We have been through an extremely robust and intensive recruitment process to source the best possible candidate for this demanding role. As a professional coach with a background in sport science and vast Olympic experience Antonio is an exceptional candidate and we are delighted to welcome him to our team.

“I wish to thank Neville Maxwell, Chair of our High Performance Committee, Paul McDermott, Sport Ireland High Performance Director and Gianni Postiglione, World Rowing (FISA) coaching representative for their personal contributions to this recruitment process."