Sarah Heard
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

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 The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...
.


Club and state rowing

Born in Melbourne, Heard's senior rowing was done from the Melbourne University Rowing Club. 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 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 rowed in the youth eight again in 2003. 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.Heard History at Guerin Foster
/ref> In Melbourne University colours she contested all three sweep-oared women's heavyweight national Australian titles 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 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and two of those events in 2009. She won the
coxless four A coxless four, abbreviated as a 4- and also called a straight four, is a racing shell used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four persons who propel the boat with sweep oars, without a coxswain. The crew consists of four ...
national title in 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2009; the
coxless pair A coxless pair, abbreviated as a 2- and also known as a straight pair, is a racing shell used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for two rowers, who propel the boat with sweep oars. The crew consists of a pair of rowers, each ...
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.


International representative rowing

Heard first represented for Australia contesting the 2004
World Rowing U23 Championships World Rowing U23 Championships is an international rowing regatta Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is ...
in Poznan, Poland in a
coxless pair A coxless pair, abbreviated as a 2- and also known as a straight pair, is a racing shell used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for two rowers, who propel the boat with sweep oars. The crew consists of a pair of rowers, each ...
. She placed fifth.Heard at World Rowing
/ref> 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 The 2005 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 29 August to 4 September 2005 at the Nagaragawa International Regatta Course in Kaizu, Gifu Prefecture, Japan. The international rowing season usually ends ...
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. 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 Kate Hornsey (born 19 October 1981, in Hobart) is an Australian former three-time world champion, dual Olympian and Olympic silver medal-winning rower. Club and national rowing Hornsey took up rowing when she was 12 years old in New Norfolk, T ...
and
Amber Bradley Amber Bradley (born 19 May 1980 in Wickham, Western Australia) 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 Championshi ...
. However, for the 2006 World Championships Balmforth seated Heard at six and Hornsey at stroke. The eight won the bronze medal. 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. 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. Heard's final Australian representative appearance was at the
2010 World Rowing Championships The 2010 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 31 October to 7 November 2010 on Lake Karapiro near Cambridge, New Zealand, Cambridge, New Zealand. The annual week-long rowing (sport), rowing regatta was or ...
in
Lake Karapiro Lake Karapiro () is an artificial reservoir lake on the Waikato River at Karapiro, south-east of Cambridge, New Zealand, Cambridge in New Zealand's North Island. The lake was formed in 1947 by the damming of the Waikato River to store water for ...
, New Zealand. In the bow seat of the coxless four with
Pauline Frasca Pauline Frasca (born 1 July 1980 in Sale, Victoria) 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. Club ...
, Sarah Cook and Kate Hornsey, Heard brought home her third World Championship medal – this time a silver.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Heard, Sarah 1983 births Living people Australian female rowers World Rowing Championships medalists for Australia Olympic rowers for Australia Rowers at the 2008 Summer Olympics 21st-century Australian sportswomen Rowers from Melbourne Sportswomen from Victoria (state)