Gold Coast Sports Power 50: Olympic Champion Duncan Free continues to impact grassroots sport

AS an Olympic gold medallist alone, Duncan Free has a substantial stature on the Gold Coast. Post-career, the rowing legend is still making a big difference as Griffith Sports College director.

Olympic champion Duncan Fee continues to impact grassroots sport and is number 41 of the Gold Coast Bulletin power 50. Picture: Richard Gosling.

AS an Olympic gold medallist alone, Duncan Free has a substantial stature on the Gold Coast. Post-career, the rowing legend, who sits at no.42 on the Bulletin’s Power 50 of Gold Coast sport, is still making a big difference as Griffith Sports College director.

Among his chief missions is to help elite athletes manage study opportunities between their sporting commitments.

Free knows from his own illustrious career the importance of life balance: He credits it for allowing him to switch on and off effectively to reach greater heights as well as preventing him from burning out.

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Olympic rowing Champion Duncan Free with Jess Evatt-Davey at Surfers Paradise Rowing Club, Gold Coast. Free believes that Gold Coast has the potential to become Australia's rowing hub. Picture: Regi Varghese

Perhaps most important though was the ease it made the often difficult transition into life after competition.

“I always had a very balanced life throughout my own rowing career,” Free reflected.

“Early on it was university for me and then I transitioned into work as well and got married, had kids. I was working throughout that whole time while I was competing.

“When I did transition into retirement from sport, it was only a small amount of my life that changed, rather than being 90 per cent of your life all of a sudden coming to a standstill.

“I still had work and other things going on in my life.

“So we make sure that athletes who study at Griffith have that flexibility to be able to do both in terms of study and train and compete in their sport without any one of them being compromised at all.”

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Duncan Free when he represented Australia at the Olympics.

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Griffith University proudly spruiks its contingent of athletes that competed at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, including leading swimmers Emma McKeon and Cameron McEvoy – not to mention a number of Suns and Titans players it has enrolled.

“We had 32 athletes and alumni represent at the Commonwealth Games, which was massive,” said Free, whose career highlights also included snaring a world championship medal alongside brother Marcus.

Olympic medallist Duncan Free at the Australian Institute of Sport training facility at Pizzey Park.

“The next university had 16 and that was University of Sydney.”

The 45-year-old’s role also encompasses partnerships and high performance, forging close combinations with the likes of the Titans and Queensland Academy of Sport as well as creating sport research opportunities.