Education
He later went to Philadelphia, where he attended Saint Joseph"s College on a scholarship and also rowed for Vesper Boat Club.
He later went to Philadelphia, where he attended Saint Joseph"s College on a scholarship and also rowed for Vesper Boat Club.
Drea is from Wells, near Muine Bheag, County Carlow. He tried many sports before joining Neptune Rowing Club after moving to Dublin to work in advertising. He lost to Alexander Timoschinin in the final of the 1972 Diamond Sculls when the steering finance broke off his boat.
At the 1972 Olympics, he came seventh.
At the 1975 World Championships, he finished second to Peter-Michael Kolbe. At the 1976 Olympics, he broke the 2000 m world record in the semi-final with a time of 6:52.46.
However, he finished fourth in the final after a poor third quarter. Drea spent years in Philadelphia as a coach for Fairmount Rowing Association, Louisiana Salle University and the United States National Team, and rowed in the Head of the River Race in 1997 with a veteran Schuylkill Navy crew.
Today, Drea lives in Greystones, Company
Wicklow, Ireland and works as an organic farmer. Drea was mentioned on the cult-telvision comedy show Father Ted, in the season three episode Speed 3. The scene depicts Fathers Ted, Clarke and Beeching trying to come up with a plan to save Dougal, when Father Clarke reminisces about being at the Moscow Olympics with "Sean Drea, the rower".
He won the Henley Royal Regatta"s Diamond Sculls three years in a row, and came second in the 1975 World Championships. In 1974, he won the United States. national championships, and was the favorite for the World Championships in Rotsee. However he withdrew for an emergency kidney stone removal. Sean"s son Jack Drea rowed for Oxford Brookes University and won the Temple Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta in 2006.
