Rachael Taylor (rower)

Last updated

Racheal Taylor
Personal information
Born (1976-05-06) 6 May 1976 (age 47)
Sport
SportRowing
ClubBallarat City Rowing Club
Melbourne Uni Boat Club
Powerhouse Rowing Club
Medal record
Women's rowing
Representing Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia
Olympic Games
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2000 Sydney Coxless pair
World Rowing Championships
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2002 Seville W8+
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 1999 St. Catharines W2-

Rachael Taylor (born 6 May 1976 in Ballarat) is an Australian former rower - a national champion and an Olympic and world championship medalist.

Contents

Club and state rowing

Taylor's senior rowing was initially from the Ballarat City Rowing club in her home town. After relocating to Melbourne she rowed from the Melbourne University Boat Club and during her Australian representative years from the Powerhouse Rowing Club in Melbourne. [1]

State selection for Taylor first came in 1995 in the Victorian youth eight to contest the Bicentennial Cup at the Interstate regatta within the Australian Rowing Championships. In 1997 she was selected to the Victorian senior women's heavyweight crew which was until 1999 competing in coxless fours. She raced for and won the ULVA Trophy for Victoria in 1997 and 1998 and then was in the first Victorian state women's eight who contested and also won the ULVA Trophy in 1999. [1] She rowed in another Victorian eights victory in 2000. By 2002 the Interstate eights were racing for the Queen's Cup and Taylor contested the 2002 Queen's Cup for Victoria finishing second. [1]

Taylor contested national titles at the Australian Rowing Championships on a number of occasions. In 2000 wearing Powerhouse Rowing Club colours she won the national coxless pairs championship title with Kate Slatter in an Australian record time. [2] In 2000 she also won the national open women's coxless four title. [3]

International representative rowing

Taylor's first Australian representative selection came at age eighteen when selected with Sarah Coconis to compete in a coxless pair at the 1994 World Rowing U23 Championships in Vaires Sur Marne, France. They did not make the final and finished in overall seventh place. That same year Taylor and Coconis raced the pair at the 1994 World Junior Rowing Championships in Munich to fifth place. [4]

Taylor's senior selection debut came in 1997 when with Bronwyn Thompson she rowed the coxless pair to a fourth placing at the 1997 World Rowing Championships in Aiguebelette, France after having raced at two World Rowing Cups in Europe that season. [4] In 1998 Taylor competed in the Australian pair, four and eight at two World Rowing Cups in Europe and then in the eight to a fourth placing at Cologne 1998. [4]

By 1999 Kate Slatter was Australia's prominent sweep oared female rower having won both world and Olympic championships in 1995 and 1996 in the coxless pair. Her partner Megan Marcks had retired and Slatter was looking for a new pairs partner for a 2000 Olympic campaign. Slatter and Taylor came together in the coxless pair. They raced at a World Rowing Cup and then at the 1999 World Rowing Championships in St Catharines to a bronze medal. [4] In the 2000 Olympic year they raced with success at two World Rowing Cups in Europe before coming to Sydney. At the Sydney 2000 Olympics they placed second in their heat, won their repechage and placed second behind the Romanians in the Olympic final, beating out the US pair for the silver medal by 4/100ths of a second. [4]

Taylor continued rowing at the highest level post-Olympics. She raced in both the coxless four and the Australian eight at two World Rowing Cups in Europe and secured the five seat in the eight for the 2002 World Rowing Championships in Seville Spain where they rowed to a silver medal. [4]

Related Research Articles

Drew Cameron Ginn OAM is an Australian five-time world champion rower, a four time Olympian and triple Olympic gold medallist. From 1995 to 1998 he was a member of Australia's prominent world class crew – the coxless four known as the Oarsome Foursome.

Julia Wilson is an Australian former rower, a two-time World Champion and a dual Olympian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mike McKay (rower)</span> Australian rower

Michael Scott McKay, OAM, known as Mike McKay, is an Australian rower, a four-time world champion, a four-time Olympic medallist and Commonwealth Games gold medallist. From 1990 to 1998 he was a member of Australia's prominent world class crew – the coxless four known as the Oarsome Foursome.

Kate Elizabeth Slatter OAM is an Australian former rower, a sixteen time national champion, world champion and Olympic champion from Adelaide, South Australia. She is a three-time Olympian who in 1996 won Australia's first Olympic gold in women's rowing.

Megan Leanne Marcks, OAM is an Australian former national, Olympic and world champion rower. She is an Olympic and World Champion in the coxless pair who represented Australia at the Olympics in 1992 and 1996.

Emily Martin is an Australian former rower, a three time world champion and an Olympian.

Pauline Frasca is an Australian former rower – a national champion, two-time world champion and a dual Olympian. She has represented at the elite world level as both a sculler and a sweep-oar rower.

Robyn Selby Smith is an Australian former rower. She is a national champion, a three-time world champion and an Olympian whose international success came in sweep-oared heavyweight crews.

Victoria Roberts is an Australian former rower, a dual Olympian, and a three-time world champion. She went back-to-back winning the coxless four World Championship title in 2001 and 2002.

Bronwyn Roye is an Australian former rower. She is a six-time national champion, a medalist at World Championships and a dual Olympian who raced in two Australian sculling events at the 1996 Summer Olympics.

Jodi Winter is an Australian rower, a two-time World Champion and a dual Olympian.

Kristina Larsen is an Australian former representative rower. She is a two-time World Champion, an Olympian and won ten Australian national championship titles in sweep-oared boats, often at stroke.

Paul Anthony Thompson MBE is an Australian elite level rowing coach and former rower. As a rower he was an Australian under-age champion, won a silver medal at the 1985 U23 World Championships and rowed in senior King's Cup eights for both South Australia and New South Wales. He has coached Australian and British crews to World Championship titles and Olympic medals including taking Kate Slatter and Megan Still to Australia's first women's Olympic rowing gold at Atlanta 1996. By 2012 he was Great Britain's head coach for women and lightweights and took British crews to three gold and two silver medals at London 2012. Since 2022 he has been Rowing Australia's High Performance Director.

Paul Marshall Guest OAM, is an Australian former representative rower, a family law barrister and Queen's Counsel who spent ten years as a judge on the bench of the Family Court of Australia. As a rower, he was a six-time Australian national champion, raced in nine King's Cup eights for Victoria over a 15-year period, and competed at three Olympic Games. As a Family Court justice, Guest's pivotal ruling in the "Re Patrick" case dealt with the complex area of known sperm donor's rights under the Family Law Act. Guest is a collector and benefactor of contemporary art whose personal collection has been lent for display to a number of prominent Australian galleries.

Lucy Stephan is an Australian rower. She is a multiple Australian champion, a 2016 and 2020 Olympian and a world champion who won a 2017 world title in the coxless four and regained that same world title in 2019. At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics she set the pace from the bow seat of the Australian coxless four to a gold medal victory. She won the Remenham Challenge Cup at the 2018 Henley Royal Regatta in the Australian women's eight.

Rosemary Popa is an Australian national champion rower, Olympic gold medalist, and former rower for the University of California, Berkeley. A dual citizen of Australia and the United States, she has represented both countries at World Rowing Championships, twice winning medals for Australia. She won the Remenham Challenge Cup at the 2018 Henley Royal Regatta in the Australian women's eight. In 2021, she was selected to represent Australia in the coxless four event at the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics, where she won the gold medal.

Victoria Toogood is an Australian former rower. She was a national champion, a junior world champion and a medalist at World Championships.

Leeanne Whitehouse is an Australian former lightweight rower. She was a seven-time national champion and won a silver medal at the 1988 World Rowing Championships.

Pamela Westendorf is an Australian former lightweight rower. She won twenty-three Australian national championships, was an Olympian, represented at five World Championships over a twelve-year period and won a silver medal at the 1990 World Rowing Championships.

Eliza Gaffney is an Australian representative sweep-oar rower. She is a national champion, has represented at senior World Championships and was a medallist at U23 World Championships.

References