Rowing New Zealand has hired Australian Noel Donaldson as lead coach for their elite sweep programme.
Donaldson's history includes coaching Australia's Oarsome Foursome crew to back-to-back Olympic golds in Barcelona and Atlanta.
He has until recently been Head Coach of Rowing Australia.
Donaldson will arrive in New Zealand in time for the trials ahead of next month's World Cup in Sydney.
Rowing New Zealand's High Performance Manager Alan Cotter says recruiting a coach of high calibre was a priority in having a successful men's sweep high performance programme looking forward to Rio 2016 and beyond.
Cotter says they were looking for someone who had achieved results as a head coach in sweep oar boats, had worked successfully in a high performance programme and had the ability to develop, lead and maintain a strong team culture.
Cotter says there was strong national and international interest in the role.
