Joseph Sullivan

Joseph Sullivan is a New Zealand former rower who won Olympic gold in the double sculls at the 2012 London Games, staging a dramatic comeback victory alongside partner Nathan Cohen.

Trailing at the 1,500-metre mark of the 2012 London Olympic final, Joseph Sullivan and Nathan Cohen staged a dramatic closing surge to win gold in the double sculls in 6:31.67 — a race later voted New Zealand's Favourite Sporting Moment of the Decade at the 2021 Halberg Awards.' He excelled at the national secondary school rowing championships, the Maadi Cup, while at Queen Charlotte College, winning under-18 double sculls titles for three consecutive years and individual single sculls titles in 2004 and 2005. Sullivan won back-to-back World Under-23 Championship titles in the single sculls in 2007 and 2008, before switching to the double sculls to partner Nathan Cohen. The pairing proved immediately successful, winning consecutive World Rowing Championship gold medals in the double sculls in 2010 at New Zealand's own Lake Karapiro and in 2011 in Bled, Slovenia, the latter by a margin of just six-hundredths of a second. Sullivan and Cohen entered the 2012 London Olympics as reigning World Champions but were shocked to see the field's other favourites eliminated in the semifinal, going on to trail at the 1500-metre mark of the final before staging a dramatic comeback to win gold in 6:31.67. The victory was later voted New Zealand's Favourite Sporting Moment of the Decade at the 2021 Halberg Awards. Sullivan was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2013, and later pursued other sports, including bobsled, after retiring from competitive rowing.

Powerful sculler known for closing speed and a strong finishing kick

Marlborough's greatest-ever sportsman and one of New Zealand's most celebrated rowers, remembered for one of the country's most dramatic Olympic moments

• Olympic gold, double sculls (2012)
• 2x World Champion, double sculls (2010, 2011)
• 2x World Under-23 Champion, single sculls (2007, 2008)
• New Zealand's Favourite Sporting Moment of the Decade (2021 Halberg Awards)