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Displaying items by tag: Spracklen

# ROWING: Martin McElroy, who was the Ireland high performance director from 2009 to 2012, has been chosen as performance director for men’s rowing in Canada. The Galway native, who is 49, came to prominence when he guided the Britain men’s eight to gold in Sydney in 2000. He and his team had some success at under-23 level in Ireland, with the highlight being a silver medal for the lightweight men’s quadruple scull at  the 2010 World Under-23 Championships. However, at Olympic level, just one Irish athlete competed at London 2012. Sanita Puspure finished 13th in the women’s single scull.

Outgoing coach Mike Spracklen, who led the Canadian men's eight to wins at the 1992 and 2008 Olympic Games as well as a silver medal at the London 2012 Games, has not had his contract renewed. A controversy has erupted at the decision, with Spracklen speaking of a vendetta by oarsman Scott Frandsen, who has criticised his methods.

Published in Rowing

About Commander Bill King, Solo Circumnavigator

William Donald Aelian King was the last surviving submarine commander in the Second World War - in charge of the British Navy's T-class Telemachus that sank a Japanese sub in the Strait of Malacca, between Malaysia and Sumatra, in 1944.

Decorated many times for his service by the end of the war, King became a trailblazing solo sailor.

At the age of 58, he was the oldest participant in The Sunday Times Golden Globe Race sailing Galway Blazer II, a junk-rigged schooner he designed himself.

After a number of abortive attempts, including an incident with "a large sea creature", he finally completed his solo circumnavigation of the globe in 1973.

Beyond his aquatic escapades, King settled with his wife Anita (who died in 1984, aged 70) at Oranmore Castle outside Galway after the war, where he later developed a pioneering organic farm and garden to help tackle his wife's asthma.

The round-the-world sailor and Galway native Bill King died on Friday, 21 September, 2012, aged 102.