Sonia Waddell (née Scown; born 19 February 1973) is a New Zealand athlete. She represented her country at a World Junior Championship in hurdles before becoming a

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 ...

, in which sport she was twice an Olympic competitor and where she won silver at a

World Rowing Championship The World Rowing Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by FISA (the International Rowing Federation). It is a week-long event held at the end of the northern hemisphere summer and in non- Olympic years is the highlight of th ...

. She later competed as a cyclist and won medals at a UCI Para-cycling Track World Championship as a sighted guide.

Private life

Waddell is the daughter of former

All Black The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

Alistair Scown Alistair Ian Scown (born 21 October 1948) was a New Zealand rugby union player. He has five caps as an All Black. All his test appearances were in 1972. Scown is known for being a player involved in what has been described as "the greatest try o ...

and sister of rugby player Hayden Scown. In 1998, she married fellow rower

Rob Waddell Robert Norman Waddell (born 7 January 1975) is a New Zealand Olympic Gold Medalist and double World Champion Single sculler rower, and America's Cup yachtsman. He is a triple New Zealand Supreme 'Halberg Awards' Sportsperson of the year winner ...

. Rower

Rebecca Scown Rebecca Scown (born 10 August 1983) is a Silver and Bronze Olympic medalist Rowing (sport), rower from New Zealand. Together with Genevieve Behrent, she won the silver medal in the women's coxless pair at the 2016 Summer Olympics. At the same Ol ...

is her cousin.

Sports career

Athletics

Waddell represented New Zealand in the 400 m hurdles at the

1990 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 1990 World Junior Championships in Athletics was the 1990 edition of the World Junior Championships in Athletics. It was held in Plovdiv, Bulgaria on 8–12 August. Results Men Women Medal table Participation According to an unoffic ...

Plovdiv Plovdiv (, ) is the List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, second-largest city in Bulgaria, 144 km (93 miles) southeast of the capital Sofia. It had a population of 490,983 and 675,000 in the greater metropolitan area. Plovdiv is a cultural hub ...

, Bulgaria.

Rowing

She first represented her country in rowing at the

1995 World Rowing Championships The 1995 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 20 to 28 August 1995 at Lake Kaukajärvi, Tampere Tampere is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Pirkanmaa. It is located in the Finnish Lakel ...

Tampere Tampere is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Pirkanmaa. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Tampere is approximately , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately . It is the most populous mu ...

, Finland, where she came ninth in the women's quadruple sculls. From 1997 onwards, she competed in the single sculls, and at the

World Rowing Championships The World Rowing Championships is an international Rowing (sport), rowing regatta organized by International Rowing Federation, FISA (the International Rowing Federation). It is a week-long event held at the end of the northern hemisphere summer ...

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, and

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

, she placed tenth, tenth, and fifth, respectively. At the

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

and

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

, she continued to compete in the single sculls, placing sixth and fifth, respectively. She won a silver medal in the

2001 World Rowing Championships The 2001 World Rowing Championships were held from 19 to 26 August 2001 at Rotsee in Lucerne, Switzerland. Medal summary Men Non-Olympic classes Women Non-Olympic classes Medal table References {{Authority control World Rowing ...

in the quadruple sculls, alongside Paula Twining and twins Caroline and

Georgina Evers-Swindell Georgina Emma Buchanan Earl (born 10 October 1978 in Hastings, New Zealand), better known under her maiden name Georgina Evers-Swindell, is a New Zealand former rower. She competed in the double sculls with her identical twin sister Caroline E ...

. In the

2003 World Rowing Championships The 2003 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 25 August to 1 September 2003 on the lake Idroscalo at Milan, Italy. The international rowing season usually ends with the World Championship regatta. Apart ...

, she competed in the single sculls and came seventh.

Cycling

In 2011, she won the New Zealand Cycling Time Trial Championship. At the 2011 UCI Para-cycling Track World Championships she took one gold and one bronze as a

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

, with teammate

Jayne Parsons Jayne Parsons (born 18 March 1962 in Lower Hutt) is a New Zealand paralympic cycle sport, cyclist who New Zealand at the 2008 Summer Paralympics, won a bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Paralympics along with tandem partner Annaliisa Farrell in t ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Waddell, Sonia 1973 births Living people New Zealand female cyclists New Zealand female rowers New Zealand female sprinters Olympic rowers for New Zealand Rowers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Hāwera World Rowing Championships medalists for New Zealand UCI Para-cycling World Champions 21st-century New Zealand sportswomen