Derek Holland competed in the men’s lightweight coxless four at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games alongside Tony O’Connor, Neville Maxwell and Sam Lynch, finishing 4th in the A final – narrowly missing the bronze medal in the event’s Olympic debut.

Described by Neville Maxwell as a superb rowing technician, Holland was selected for the final crew after the Cologne regatta, where he and Sam Lynch were paired with the established Maxwell-O’Connor combination and the resulting four won by six seconds and beat the second Irish crew by thirteen seconds.

Holland’s technical excellence provided the backbone of the crew’s distinctive style, in which Maxwell linked O’Connor at stroke with Lynch and Holland, and O’Connor brought what his crewmates described as an amazing tempo and rhythm to the boat.