Laura Gourley
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Laura Gourley (born 28 May 2002) is an Australian representative
rower Rowing, often called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars (called blades in the United Kingdom) are attached to the boat using rowlocks, while paddles are ...
. She is a three-time Australian underage champion, has represented at U23 World Championships and in 2023 made the Australian senior squad.


Club and state rowing

Gourley, who is from
Narrabri Narrabri ( ) is a locality and seat of Narrabri Shire Local government in Australia, local government area in the North West Slopes, New South Wales, Australia on the Namoi River, northwest of Sydney. It sits on the junction of the Kamilaroi Hi ...
in north-western NSW, attended school at
Loreto Normanhurst Loreto Normanhurst is an independent Catholic, primary and secondary day and boarding school for girls, located in Normanhurst, a suburb on the upper North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1897, Loreto has a curre ...
where she took up rowing. Her senior club rowing has been from the
UTS Haberfield Rowing Club UTS Haberfield Rowing Club in Sydney was formed as Haberfield Rowing Club in 1925. It has occupied its current site on Port Jackson's, Iron Cove at Dobroyd Point since 1926. The club had a senior and lightweight Sydney premiership & national com ...
in Sydney. Gourley first made NSW state selection in the 2020 women's youth eight, which didn't race at the Interstate Regatta due to the pandemic. In 2021, she was again selected in the NSW women's youth eight, placing 3rd in the race for the Bicentennial Cup at the Interstate Regatta within the
Australian Rowing Championships The Australian Rowing Championships is an annual rowing event that determines Australia's national rowing champions and facilitates selection of Australian representative crews for World Championships and the Olympic Games. It is Australia's pre ...
. She made senior state selection for New South Wales in 2022 when picked in the senior women's eight to contest the Queen's Cup at the Interstate Regatta (2nd place). She rowed again in the NSW Queen's Cup eight of 2023 again to 2nd place. In UTS Haberfield colours Gourley won the U21 women's single scull title at the
Australian Rowing Championships The Australian Rowing Championships is an annual rowing event that determines Australia's national rowing champions and facilitates selection of Australian representative crews for World Championships and the Olympic Games. It is Australia's pre ...
in 2021. In 2022 and 2023 she won the U23 single scull Australian championship titles.


International representative rowing

Gourley's Australian representative debut came in 2022 when she was selected as Australia's U23 single sculler to compete at the 2022
U23 World Rowing Championships World Rowing U23 Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by the World Rowing Federation World Rowing, also known as the World Rowing Federation (officially FISA; ), is the international governing body for rowing. Its curren ...
in Varese where she finished in 8th place.Gourley at World Rowing
/ref> In March 2023 Gourley was selected in the Australian senior women's sculling squad for the 2023 international season. At the
Rowing World Cup The World Rowing Cup is an international rowing competition organized by FISA (the International Rowing Federation). It began in 1997 and comprises three regattas (apart from in 2001 when there were four) held throughout early summer. In each ...
II in Varese, Italy Gourley raced as Australia's W2X entrant with Amanda Bateman. They made the A final and finished in fourth place. At 2023's WRC III in Lucerne, Gourley and Bateman again raced the W2X. They made the A final and in a tight finish at the back of that field they finished in fourth place. Gourley and Bateman were selected to race Australia's double scull at
2023 World Rowing Championships The 2023 World Rowing Championships were held from 3 to 10 September 2023 in Belgrade, Serbia. Medal summary Medal table Non-Olympic/Paralympic classes Men Women Pararowing References External links Official websiteWorld Rowing webs ...
in Belgrade, Serbia. They placed third in their heat but then won their repechage to qualify through to the A/B semi in which they finished fifth. In the B final they finished 2nd, earnt a 7th place world ranking from the regatta and qualified the boat for Paris 2024.


Sporting family

Laura is the granddaughter of Northern Irish-Australian professional
rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...
and
rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
footballer Robin Gourley who played in the 1950s and 1960s and won two premierships with the
St George Dragons The St. George Dragons are an Australian rugby league, rugby league football club from the St George, Sydney, St George District in Sydney, New South Wales that played in the top level New South Wales Rugby League, New South Wales competition ...
. Laura is the niece of
dual-code rugby international A dual-code rugby international is a rugby footballer who has played at the senior international level in both codes of rugby, 13-a-side rugby league and 15-a-side rugby union. Rugby league started as a breakaway version of rugby in Northern Engl ...
, Scott Gourley. Her father Ian is Robin's son, Scott's brother.


References


External links

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archive
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Laura Gourley
at the
Paris 2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...
(archived
alternate link
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gourlay, Laura 2002 births Living people Australian female rowers Olympic rowers for Australia Rowers at the 2024 Summer Olympics People from the North West Slopes Sportswomen from New South Wales 21st-century Australian sportswomen