Ian Wright is in Switzerland coaching the Swiss National team ahead of the 2024 Olympics.
Ian Wright is in Switzerland coaching the Swiss National team ahead of the 2024 Olympics.
Three-time Olympic rower Ian Wright and New Zealand wrestling great the late Kenneth (Ken) Ruby have been inducted into the Whanganui Sports Hall of Fame.
The ceremony took place in the Peter Snell Lounge at the Cooks Garden Event Centre on Friday, the first inductees since 2019, dueto Covid disruptions.
Wright is recognised as one of the top rowing coaches in the world, and Ruby became a household name as one of New Zealand’s top amateur wrestlers of the 1940s-50s.
After taking up rowing at Whanganui High School in 1978, Wright made his first New Zealand Rowing Team in 1983 as a member of the under-23 squad to compete against Australia.
He went on to compete at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, winning a silver medal with Barrie Mabbott in the coxless pair, and a bronze in the eight.
Wright was part of the New Zealand Olympic rowing team to compete in Seoul, Korea in 1988, where he won a bronze medal in the coxed four.
Ruby was a member of the New Zealand team to compete at the British Empire (Commonwealth) Games in Auckland in 1950, and in Vancouver in 1954, where he placed fifth.
Upon his return from Canada, Ruby and his young family moved to Whanganui and went on to give back to the sport, starting the Whanganui Boys and Girls Gym Club alongside Police Constable Jim Bowley.
Ruby later became an international referee-judge, officiating at multiple Commonwealth Games and World Championship events.
Ken Ruby is being inducted into the Whanganui Sports Hall of Fame.
As a coach at St Paul’s Collegiate in Hamilton, and later at Hamilton Boys’ High School, Wright produced Maadi Cup-winning squads at each school.
He coached the New Zealand under-23 team during the 2000s and the development coxed four to the world championships in 2003.
Wright has coached national teams in Australia and Switzerland and in 2023 was nominated for Coach of the Year by World Rowing.
Ruby became a Life Member of the New Zealand Referee-Judge panel in 1980, and life member of the NZ Olympic Wrestling Union in 1989.
In 1988, he was awarded the Queen’s Service Medal (QSM). He died in 2011 in Tauranga.
Wright was unable to be at the event but sent a video message from Switzerland, where he is currently employed coaching the Swiss National team ahead of the 2024 Olympics.
To be eligible for the Hall of Fame, nominees must be from the Whanganui District and have been retired at least five years from top competitions. They must have represented New Zealand at a senior level or contributed positively to, and brought credit to sport in the district.
Nominations for the Whanganui Sports Hall of Fame will open again in late-2024.
Eva de Jong is a reporter for the Whanganui Chronicle covering health stories and general news. She began as a reporter in 2023.
