Christopher William Bunny Nilsson (born 16 February 1947) is a New Zealand rower.

Chris Nilsson
Personal information
Birth nameChristopher William Bunny Nilsson
NationalityNew Zealand
Born (1947-02-16) 16 February 1947 (age 77)[1]
Hastings, New Zealand
Height185 cm (6 ft 1 in)[1]

Nilsson was born in 1947 in Hastings, New Zealand.[1][2] He represented New Zealand at the 1972 Summer Olympics. He is listed as New Zealand Olympian athlete number 299 by the New Zealand Olympic Committee.[3] He later worked as a rowing coach. He worked as a coach for the University of Oxford and then Princeton University.[4] This was followed from 2004 to 2008 as coach in the New Zealand high performance rowing programme. Nilsson claims that he was driven out of the sport by fellow 1972 Summer Olympics rower, highly successful but controversial coach Dick Tonks.[5] When Tonks was appointed head coach, Nilsson resigned and went to the University of Cambridge.[4]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c "Chris Nilsson". International Rowing Federation. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
  2. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Chris Nilsson". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
  3. ^ "Chris Nilsson". New Zealand Olympic Committee. Retrieved 18 September 2016.[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ a b "Olympic rowing coach heading overseas". Waikato Times. 30 September 2008. Retrieved 18 September 2016.
  5. ^ Hinton, Marc (20 December 2015). "Rowing legend Dick Tonks is an 'impossible man': former NZ coach and rower". The Sunday Star-Times. Retrieved 18 September 2016.