| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationality | New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 31 March 1992 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Education | Marlborough Girls' College | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 172 cm (5 ft 8 in) [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 57 kg (126 lb) [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Wairau [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Sophie MacKenzie (born 31 March 1992) is a New Zealand Olympic rower and, together with Julia Edward, double world champion in lightweight double sculls.
MacKenzie was born in 1992 [2] and grew up in the Waihopai Valley. Her parents are Aiden and Alison MacKenzie, and she has a brother and a sister. [3] She attended Marlborough Girls' College in Blenheim [4] and being from a remote farm, she hasn't lived at home since age 13, but has either lived in flats or for board. [5] She is and continues to be a member of the Wairau Rowing Club, [6] despite having moved to Cambridge in 2012 to train at the national rowing centre. [5] [3] MacKenzie is gluten-intolerant and for that reason, much of her food is homemade rather than bought. She promotes healthy food recipes through a website that she runs with her friend from school, Megan Craig, a squash champion. [5]
At the 2012 World Rowing U23 Championships in Trakai, Lithuania, she won a bronze medal in the U23 lightweight women's double sculls with Georgia Hammond. [7] At the 2013 World Rowing U23 Championships in Linz, Austria, she won another bronze medal in the same boat class, this time partnered with Lisa Owen. [8] At the 2014 World Rowing U23 Championships in Varese, Italy, she became U23 world champion in this boat class with Zoe McBride. [9] A week before the U23 world championships, she was told that she would row at elite level at the 2014 World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam, Netherlands, with Julia Edward. Lucy Strack, Edward's previous partner, had missed selection in 2014. [5] MacKenzie and Edward had five weeks of training together before the world championships, [10] and they became world champions in the lightweight women's double sculls in August 2014. [11] Edward and MacKenzie repeated this feat at the 2015 World Rowing Championships. [12]
The 2016 rowing year did not start out that successful for Edward and MacKenzie, and at both World Rowing Cups that New Zealand attended that year, they came third, beaten by different nations at those regattas. [13] [14] [15] When they competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro later that year, they came fourth in the lightweight double sculls, [16] which was disappointing to them. [13] The following month, MacKenzie announced that she "needed a break" for 12 months. She would keep herself fit, but do some other activities that she had been interested in for some time, [17] including commencing her yoga teacher training with her friend Megan Craig. [18] Her rowing partner for the last few years, Edward, would also take a year off. [19] Both also took the 2018 rowing season off, but neither has announced their retirement. [20]
In 2013, she was voted Marlborough Sportswoman of the Year. In 2014 and 2015, she won the supreme award Marlborough Sportsperson of the Year. [3] In 2016, she was again vote Marlborough Sportswoman of the Year, beaten to the supreme award by rally co-driver John Kennard. [21] MacKenzie and Edward were team nominees in the Halberg Awards in both 2014 and 2015, but on neither occasion did they become finalists. [22] [23]
Michelle Denise Darvill is a retired rower. Born in Toronto, she first competed for Canada, but later change allegiance to Germany. She was world champion in three different lightweight boat classes, once for Canada and twice for Germany, and represented Germany at the 1996 Summer Olympics. Since 2009, she has been coaching the Canadian under 23 women's team.
Emma Kimberley Twigg is a New Zealand rower. A single sculler, she was the 2014 world champion and won gold in her fourth Olympics in Tokyo in July 2021. Previous Olympic appearances were in 2008, 2012, and 2016. She has retired from rowing twice, first for master-level studies in Europe in 2015 and then after the 2016 Olympics, disappointed at having narrowly missed an Olympic medal for the second time. After two years off the water, she started training again in 2018 and won silver at the 2019 World Rowing Championships. Since her marriage in 2020, she has become an outspoken advocate for LGBT athletes. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, Twigg won gold in the woman's single scull.
Joseph Sullivan is a New Zealand rower.
Brenda Catherine Lawson is a New Zealand rower. She was twice world champion in women's double sculls with Philippa Baker, and they were both inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.
Christina Giazitzidou is a Greek rower. She won the bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, in the Women's lightweight double sculls.
Katherine Sarah Copeland MBE is a retired British Olympic Gold Medal winning rower.
Imogen Walsh is a British rower, a former World and European Champion in Lightweight Women's Single Scull.
Zoe McBride is a former New Zealand rower. She is a double world champion in the women's lightweight single scull. She is only the second New Zealand rower to win a double national championship in both the lightweight and premier single sculls.
Julia Edward is a New Zealand rower, a two time world champion in the women's lightweight double sculls.
The 2017 World Rowing Championships were the 47th edition of the World Rowing Championships that were held from 24 September to 1 October 2017 in Sarasota, Florida.
Ursula Grobler is a South African competitive rower who resides in Pretoria, South Africa.
Kirsten McCann is a South African competitive rower.
Emily Craig is a British lightweight two-time world champion rower.
Jackie Kiddle is a New Zealand rower.
Brooke Donoghue is a New Zealand rower. She has twice won the world championship in the double scull alongside Olivia Loe, is the incumbent world champion, and won a silver medal in this boat class at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with her new rowing partner, Hannah Osborne. As of 2021, she has won ten premier national rowing championships.
Zhou Weijuan is a Chinese lightweight rower.
Wang Yanni is a Chinese lightweight rower.
Eleanor "Ellie" Piggott is an English rower, who won a gold medal as part of the Great Britain rowing squad at the 2016 World Rowing Championships, in the Women's Quad sculls event.
Kirstyn Moana Goodger is a New Zealand rower. Originally from Auckland and now based in Cambridge, she took up rowing in 2005. She has won one international medal for New Zealand – a silver at the 2009 World Rowing Junior Championships in France. From 2011 to 2014, she rowed for the Washington Huskies while studying oceanography at the University of Washington. Upon her return to New Zealand, she joined the Wairau Rowing Club and is one of the premier rowers who belongs to the Central Rowing Performance Centre. Goodger has been an elite rower for the national squad since 2017. She has represented her country at several World Rowing Cups, the 2017 and the 2019 World Rowing Championships. At the latter regatta, she managed to qualify the women's quad scull boat category for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She was chosen as one of ten rowers for the New Zealand women's eight and travelled to the Games with the team. The woman's eight squad would come away with a silver medal in the eight at the 2020 games. Goodger has won four premier national titles in the women's eight. She worked as a scientist and engineer for consultancy Beca in their ports and coastal team.
