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Thompson was initially a successful swimmer and rugby player. He was the hooker in the Gisborne Boys High First XV and represented the North Island rugby team at under-18 level. He took up surf lifesaving to supplement his swimming and in 1977 graduated to kayaking.

In 1978 he and his coach John Grant decided to adopt the Arthur Lydiard training methods and were so successful other leading New Zealand kayakers soon followed suit.

By 1980, the leading New Zealanders were good enough to be making the finals of major events. The Moscow Olympic Games that year were decimated by the American-led boycott, but the kayakers did not follow the rest of the

Alan Thompson

Medals

Biography

Fast facts