Whitehead stands tall after award

That’s not the case.

But don’t get this 17-year-old wrong, he enjoys his rowing.

But he knows exactly what he wants from the sport.

A giant of a teenager at 200 centimetres tall, Whitehead took out the 2012 Orange Junior Sportsperson of the Year award at the Australia Days Sports Awards ceremony at the Orange Civic Centre yesterday.

It’s another accolade on his way to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

That’s the goal.

But just how far Whitehead goes in the sport of rowing rests squarely on the very broad shoulders of the Kinross rower.

“It’s really up to him,” Daniel’s father Rod said after accepting on behalf of his son, who was at a training camp.

“He is keen enough to make the Olympics, that’s his goal. That’s his main goal, the 2016 Olympics if he can get there. But this year he is going for the Junior World Cup again.”

And if 2011 is anything to go by, the World Cup is again within reach.

Whitehead had a stellar year, helping his Australian under 19s men’s quad team to eighth at the Junior World Rowing Championships in Eton, England.

But that was just the tip of the iceberg.

He was also selected in the National Talent Identification Program which includes regular camps at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, as well as winning multiple medals at the NSW State Rowing Championships and Head of the River Championships.

Whitehead also rowed stroke for the school boy quad crew that claimed bronze at the Australian All Schools Rowing Championships in Adelaide.

He was also presented with a prestigious scholarship through the Carbine Club of NSW.

Rod said the entire family was proud of Daniel’s achievements in the sport.

“We’re enormously proud. The whole family is.

It’s excellent and we just love following him around,” Rod said.

“And just knowing he has achieved something through the community and, he wants help pay back the community for what they have put in to help him get to where he is. I think he’d be very excited about it.”