PERSISTANCE | RESILIANCE | DETERMINATION
I started rowing at the age of 14 at Christchurch Girls High School. School Rowing in New Zealand is super competitive, I was easily sucked in to the environment and my school years eventuated in the opportunity to represent New Zealand in the Junior woman four. We became junior world champions in 2008 in Austria.
I left Austria in 2008 as a 17 year old with hopes of going to the 2012 Olympics. If somebody had told me that I wouldn’t become a World Champion for another 11 years, that it would take me until 2019 to be back on the very same course in Austria to become a World Champion again... and that in 2019 I still wouldn’t have competed in an Olympic Games. I sometimes wonder if I would have still approached this sport with the same amount of enthusiasm and fearlessness.
I couldn’t make the 2012 Olympics. I couldn’t make the 2016 Olympics and that was true heartbreak. I tried to ensure 2020 was a sure thing. It very nearly wasn’t and my family credited their Olympic Flights for the second time around, and then in 2021 I boarded a flight to Tokyo with about 200 masks in my luggage and sanitiser to last 4 weeks.
OLYMPIC MEDALIST
On the 30th of July in the Woman’s Eight Final we became Olympic Silver medalists in a time of 6.00.004 behind the Canadian woman's eight.
I never envisaged myself sitting in a womans eight. I never thought I would like it, but its been one of the biggest gifts for me over the last four years. I’ve been proud to be part of a group of woman that tested each other often, we know each others tipping points and we kept each other balancing upright on the line between laughter and tears.
I will always value the Olympic silver medal but equally I will value the way it keeps me connected to these girls for life.
