Tara Kelly (born 21 June 1985) is an Australian former representative lightweight rower. She was a national champion and 2007 world champion.

Club and state rowing

Kelly was educated at St Joseph's Queensland where she took up rowing. She won the national Schoolgirl 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 2001. Kelly's senior rowing was done from the Tweed Heads Rowing Club. In 2007, Kelly rowed in the Queensland state representative crew contesting the Victoria Cup in the women's lightweight quad scull at the Interstate Regatta within the

. In Tweed Heads Rowing Club colours she also contested national titles at the

. She raced in the lightweight double scull in 2006; in the lightweight quad scull in 2007; and she contested the lightweight single scull event in 2006 winning that year's Australian title.

International representative rowing

Kelly first represented Australia at the 2003

Junior World Rowing Championships The World Rowing U19 Championships, former name World Rowing Junior Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by FISA (the International Rowing Federation). A rower or coxswain shall be classified as a Junior until 31 December ...

in Athens. In a

double scull A double scull, also abbreviated as a 2x, is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for two persons who propel the boat by sculling with two oars each, one in each hand. Racing boats (often called "shells") ar ...

with

Sally Kehoe Sally Kehoe (born 25 September 1986) is an Australian former representative rower who was a national champion, three-time Olympian and a representative at multiple world championships. Since 2014 she has held the world-record time in the women' ...

she won gold and a junior world title.Kelly at World Rowing
/ref> In 2004 and 2005, she represented at the

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 the double scull. She placed third with Susanne Brown in Poznan in 2004 and second with Jessica Huston in Amsterdam in 2005. Kelly was elevated to the senior Australian women's lightweight quad for the

2007 World Rowing Championships The 2007 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 26 August to 2 September 2007 at Oberschleißheim Regatta Course in Oberschleißheim near Munich, Germany. Medal summary Men's events Non-Olympic classes ...

in Munich. Seated at three with

Bronwen Watson Bronwe Watson (born 23 February 1977) is an Australian former representative rower. She is a national champion, two-time World Champion and an Olympian. Personal Watson was born in Milton, New South Wales. Her father David is an Olympian, who ...

, Miranda Bennett, and

Alice McNamara Dr. Alice McNamara (born 22 February 1986) is an Australian sports physician and former representative lightweight rower. She was a national champion and a back-to-back world champion in 2007 and 2008. She represented Australia at nine successiv ...

they won their heat and lead the final from the 500 m mark to claim the gold and Kelly's first and only senior World Championship title.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Tara 1985 births Living people Australian female rowers World Rowing Championships medalists for Australia 21st-century Australian sportswomen Place of birth missing (living people)