| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 4 October 1983 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Rowing | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Melbourne Uni Boat Club | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Sarah Heard (born 4 October 1983) is a former Australian representative rower. She was a twelve-time Australian national and 2005 world champion. She stroked the Australian senior women's eight at the premier world regattas every year from 2005 to 2008 and including the women's eight final at the 2008 Summer Olympics. [1]
Born in Melbourne, Heard's senior rowing was done from the Melbourne University Rowing Club. [2]
Heard's first state representative selection came in 2002 to the Victorian youth eight contesting the Bicentennial Cup at the Interstate Regatta within the Australian Rowing Championships. She rowed in the youth eight again in 2003. [2] Heard was selected in Victorian senior women's eights to contest the Queen's Cup at the Australian Championships on six consecutive occasions from 2004 to 2009. Those crews were victorious each year from 2005 to 2009. [2]
In Melbourne University colours she contested all three sweep-oared women's heavyweight national Australian titles at the Australian Rowing Championships in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and two of those events in 2009. She won the coxless four national title in 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2009; the coxless pair title with Emily Martin in 2006; and won the national title in the women's eight in a composite Australian selection crew in 2007 and in a composite Victorian eight in 2009. [2]
Heard first represented for Australia contesting the 2004 World Rowing U23 Championships in Poznan, Poland in a coxless pair. She placed fifth. [3]
In 2005, aged 22 Heard was elevated to the Australian senior women's squad. That year she'd stroked the Victorian eight to a dominant 10sec victory in the domestic Queen's Cup. She came into contention to lead the Australian eight and at the World Rowing Cups I and II she stroked the crew to a fourth and then a first place. Two months later at the 2005 World Rowing Championships in Gizu, Japan – her first appearance for Australia at a senior World Championship – Heard led the women's eight to a gold medal and a world championship title. [3]
In 2006 Heard held her place in the eight but with the crew slipping from 3rd place to 4th place in the two Rowing World Cups (at Munich and Poznan), coach Darren Balmforth made seating changes. In small boats at Poznan the pair of Heard and Emily Martin had beaten out the other Australian pairs containing members of the eight including a pair of Kate Hornsey and Amber Bradley. However, for the 2006 World Championships Balmforth seated Heard at six and Hornsey at stroke. The eight won the bronze medal. [3]
For 2007 Heard was again in the eight at both Rowing World Cups and for the World Championships. She stroked the eight to a fourth place at the World Cup II and won gold at that regatta stroking the coxless four. At the 2007 World Championships in Munich she stroked the eight to a fourth placing. [3]
Prospects looked good for the Australian women's eight in the 2008 Olympic year. They won at the World Rowing Cup I in Munich and finished second at World Rowing Cup II in Lucerne with Heard setting the pace in both campaigns. However at Beijing in 2008 in spite of expectations the crew stroked by Heard, finished sixth overall. [3]
Heard's final Australian representative appearance was at the 2010 World Rowing Championships in Lake Karapiro, New Zealand. In the bow seat of the coxless four with Pauline Frasca, Sarah Cook and Kate Hornsey, Heard brought home her third World Championship medal – this time a silver. [3]
Sarah Ann Patricia Cook is an Australian former representative rower. She was a six-time national champion and a dual Olympian who represented at senior World Rowing Championships from 2006 to 2011. Since competitive retirement she has been a rowing coach, commentator and a sports administrator at the highest levels. She has been a board member and since 2021, the Chief Operating Officer of Rowing Australia. Since 2022 she has been a member of the World Rowing Council representing Oceania. She is the Chief Executive Officer of Rowing Australia, and a World Rowing Council member.
Sarah Anne Tait was an Australian rower - a national and world champion, three-time Olympian and Olympic-medal winner. She was the first mother to represent Australia in rowing at Olympic level, having returned to international competition following the birth of her daughter.
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.
Kate Hornsey is an Australian former three-time world champion, dual Olympian and Olympic silver medal-winning 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.
Amber Bradley is an Australian former rower - a six time Australian national sculling champion, a two time World Champion, dual Olympian and an Olympic medal winner. She won her World Championships in both sculling and sweep-oared boat classes.
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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.
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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.
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Sarah Hawe is an Australian rower. She is an Australian national champion, an Olympian and a two-time world champion winning the 2019 and 2017 world titles in the coxless four. She was a winner of the Remenham Challenge Cup at the 2018 Henley Royal Regatta in the Australian women's eight. She rowed in the Australian women's eight at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
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.
Annabelle McIntyre is an Australian national representative rower. She is an Olympic champion, a multiple Australian national champion and won medals at the 2019 World Rowing Championships and 2018 World Championships. She was selected as a 2021 Tokyo Olympian and doubled-up, racing both the Australian coxless pair and the coxless four. In the four she stroked the Australian crew to a gold medal victory.
Bronwyn Cox is an Australian representative, national champion and Olympic rower. She was a silver medallist at the 2019 World Championships and won gold and silver medals at Rowing World Cups in the 2019 international representative season. She rowed in the Australian women's eight at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Katrina Bateman is an Australian former representative rower. She is a ten-time Australian national champion, winning four national titles in the single year of 2015 and rowing in successful Victorian Queen's Cup crews for six consecutive years from 2011-2016. She was twice a medallist at underage world championships and has won gold, silver and bronze medals at World Rowing Cups between 2013 and 2019.
