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News > Alumni Stories > Two of our amazing alumni win GOLD!

Two of our amazing alumni win GOLD!

Congratulations to our two St John’s College alumni who took home gold at this year’s Tokyo Olympics!

Will Ryan (2008-2009) won gold in Men’s Sailing (470 Class) with his partner Matt Belcher. The five-time World Champions entered the medal race with an almost unbeatable 20-point lead, but the pair still dug deep to place first in a commanding fashion – winning both the final race and the gold medal!  This is Ryan’s second Olympic medal, winning Silver in Rio in 2016. Click here to read more about the exciting final race. 

Jack Hargreaves’ (2012) first foray into the Olympic arena yielded gold in the Men's Rowing - Coxless Four, as part of a historic day for Australian rowing crews. This is the first time Australia has won Gold in this event since the Oarsome Foursome at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics! Click here to read more about this exciting win. 

Finally, an honourable mention to Ed Fernon (2007-2009) who came out of a four-year retirement to represent Australia in the Modern Pentathlon at Tokyo 2020. An incredibly varied and difficult sport, Modern Pentathlon requires competitors to swim 200m, compete in a fencing round robin (around 35 bouts), show jump an unfamiliar horse, and complete a “laser run” - all in one exciting day. After swimming the 200m three-seconds faster than he did at the 2012 London Olympics, and riding well the show-jumping section, Fernon hit a snag when his arm began to cramp during the fencing which set his points score lower than expected for the final laser run. However, despite these setbacks, the 33-year old placed 31st overall with an admirable 1309 points.  Click here to read more about Ed’s story.

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