Rebecca Scown

Rebecca Scown

Personal information
Born	10 August 1983 Taranaki, New Zealand
Height	176 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Weight	75 kg (165 lb)
Sport
Club	Union Boat Club (Whanganui)
Medal record Women's rowing Competitor for  New Zealand Olympic Games 2012 London Coxless pair World Championships 2010 Lake Karapiro Coxless pair 2011 Lake Bled Coxless pair 2015 Aiguebelette W8+ 2009 Poznan Coxless pair 2013 Chungjiu Coxless pair 2014 Amsterdam W2−

Rebecca Scown (born 10 August 1983) is a professional rower from New Zealand. Together with Juliette Haigh, she won the bronze medal in the women's coxless pair at the 2012 Summer Olympics.^[1] Previously they had won gold in the women's pair at the Rowing World Cup regatta in Lucerne, 2010^[2] and at the 2010 World Rowing Championships at Lake Karapiro and at the 2011 World Rowing Championships in Bled.^[3][4][5][6]

Schooling

Scown completed her schooling at Wanganui Collegiate School. She participated in a number of extra-curricular activities during her schooling years, most notably rowing which she took up during her final years at Wanganui Collegiate School. Her teachers saw potential in her and allowed Scown to participate in the New Zealand Secondary Schools Rowing Regatta for Collegiate.

Scown was accepted to the University of Otago to study both Commerce and Arts and completed her Bachelor of Commerce in Marketing and Bachelor of Arts in Art History before moving north to Cambridge to begin her career as a full-time athlete.

Since the completion of her degree, Rebecca has also achieved a postgraduate diploma in Sport Management.^[7]

Rowing career

During her summer holidays, Scown would go home to Wanganui and compete in the Rowing New Zealand Summer season. In 2005, which was her final year at University, she received a Rowing New Zealand trial and was named as a member of the New Zealand Under-23 Women's Quadruple scull with fellow members Bess Halley, Darnelle Timbs and Clementine Marshall.^[8] Scown and her crew-mates competed at the Under-23 World Championships in Amsterdam and won a bronze medal.^[9]

In 2006, Scown rowed for the Union Boat Club in Wanganui and the Central Regional Performance Centre, gaining a number of places at the Rowing New Zealand Championships on Lake Karapiro. She was then named as a member of the New Zealand Women's Rowing Eight to compete at the 2006 World Rowing Championships in Eton, England.^[10] The crew came in 7th.

A year later, Scown competed at the 2007 World Rowing Championships in Munich, Germany as part of the New Zealand Women's Rowing Eight.^[11] However, once again, Scown and her crew returned home empty handed as they came in 9th.

Scown was later named as the stroke of the New Zealand Women's Eight which was sent to the Rowing at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Qualification in Poznan, Poland, however, her crew was unsuccessful in their bid to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

2009 provided the opportunity for her to secure a seat in the New Zealand Women's Pair.^[12] Scown was named in the boat with fellow eight rower Emma Feathery and the pair competed at two Rowing World Cup events, winning both world cups and becoming Rowing World Cup leaders for their event in 2009.^[13] They went on to compete in the 2009 World Rowing Championships in Poznań, Poland and found themselves in one of the closest races of the regatta; there was only 1 second within the first three crews in the race and Scown and Feathery came in third, winning the bronze.^[14][15]

In 2010, Juliette Haigh who was in the New Zealand Women's Pair from 2004 to 2008 returned to the event and partnered Scown in the boat. The pair competed at two Rowing World Cup events and convincingly won both finals and the Rowing World Cup leadership jerseys, making them favourites for the 2010 World Rowing Championships to be held at Lake Karapiro in November 2010.^[16][17][18]

References

1. "Bronze for NZ women's pair". tvnz.co.nz. Retrieved 2 August 2012.
2. World Rowing Racing for the top at Lucerne Rowing World Cup Published 11 July 2010. Retrieved 20 September 2010.
3. BBC News GB women's pair storm to silver at world championships Published 6 November 2010. Retrieved 6 November 2010.
4. World Rowing The New Zealand Women's Pairs Published 6 November 2010. Retrieved 6 November 2010.
5. Sportal NZ Published 6 November 2010. Retrieved 6 November 2010.
6. "Events – worldrowing.com". www.worldrowing.com. Retrieved 2015-06-22.
7. Richardson, Daniel (7 October 2009). "Storm Uru wins sports crown again". Manawatu Standard. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
8. World Rowing New Zealand announces elite team Published 21 March 2005. Retrieved 20 September 2010.
9. Wanganui Chronicle Rebecca bags a bronze Published 26 July 2005. Retrieved 18 September 2010.
10. World Rowing Rowing New Zealand selects team Published 13 March 2006. Retrieved 20 September 2010.
11. World Rowing New Zealand first to select rowing squad Published 8 March 2007. Retrieved 20 September 2010.
12. "Australia show themselves at rowing champs". World Rowing. 23 August 2009. Retrieved 20 September 2010.
13. Leggat, David (22 June 2009). "Rowing: Coxless pairs in sizzling form at World Cup regatta". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
14. "More rowing chances". Radio Sport New Zealand. 30 August 2009. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 18 September 2010.
15. Alderson, Andrew (30 August 2009). "Rowing: Golds pour in for Kiwis". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
16. Anderson, Ian (18 September 2010). "Homework looming for bookmakers and punters". Waikato Times. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
17. Pickles, Michelle (15 September 2010). "Kiwi rowers looking for Karapiro gold rush". 3 News. Retrieved 4 November 2011.
18. World Rowing Who to Watch at the Rowing World Cup in Lucerne Published 7 July 2010. Retrieved 20 September 2010.

• "NZ Rowing Championships regatta results from rowIT". rowIT. Retrieved 20 September 2010.