Genevieve "Gen" Behrent (now Macky; born 25 September 1990) is a New Zealand

rower Rowing, sometimes called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars are attached to the boat using oarlocks, while paddles are not connected to the boat. Rowing is di ...

Schooling

Behrent was born in

Oamaru Oamaru (; mi, Te Oha-a-Maru) is the largest town in North Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand, it is the main town in the Waitaki District. It is south of Timaru and north of Dunedin on the Pacific coast; State Highway 1 and the railway ...

in 1990. She received her schooling at Southland Girls' High School in

Invercargill Invercargill ( , mi, Waihōpai is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. The city lies in the heart of the wide expanse of t ...

. Behrent had planned to start her tertiary education at the

University of Otago , image_name = University of Otago Registry Building2.jpg , image_size = , caption = University clock tower , motto = la, Sapere aude , mottoeng = Dare to be wise , established = 1869; 152 years ago , type = Public research collegiate u ...

in 2010 when she received her call to the New Zealand rowing squad. She moved to

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

to be at the New Zealand training centre at

Lake Karapiro Lake Karapiro () is an artificial reservoir lake on the Waikato River at Karapiro, south-east of Cambridge in New Zealand's North Island. The lake was formed in 1947 by the damming of the Waikato River to store water for the 96-megawatt Karap ...

and studied at the

University of Waikato The University of Waikato ( mi, Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato), is a Public university, public research university in Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton, New Zealand established in 1964. An additional campus is located in Tauranga. The university perfo ...

instead.

Rowing

She never took up rowing while at high school; it was at

Lake Ruataniwha Lake Ruataniwha is an artificial lake in the Mackenzie Basin in the South Island of New Zealand. It was formed in 1977–1981 as part of the Waitaki hydroelectric project. It lies on the traditional boundary of the Canterbury and Otago provinces, ...

in November 2008 when she supported her younger brother at a rowing regatta that she was asked by Southland coach John O'Connor whether she wanted to try rowing herself as she had the right physical attributes. Only 14 months later, she was nominated for the New Zealand under-23 squad to compete at the 2010 World Rowing U23 Championships in

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...

, something that O'Connor termed "astonishing". Her brother, Oliver Behrent, went to the

World Rowing Junior Championships The 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 of the year in which he reaches the age of 1 ...

in the same year. Her first club was the Waihopai Rowing Club in

Southland Southland may refer to: Places Canada * Dunbar–Southlands, Vancouver, British Columbia New Zealand * Southland Region, a region of New Zealand * Southland County, a former New Zealand county * Southland District, part of the wider Southland Reg ...

and she later rowed for the

. Behrent took 2014 off from competitive rowing for tertiary study. She won a silver medal at the

2015 World Rowing Championships The 2015 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 30 August to 6 September 2015 at Lac d'Aiguebelette, Aiguebelette in France. Description The annual week-long rowing regatta was organized by FISA (the Int ...

with the women's eight, qualifying the boat for the

2016 Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro ...

. She also competed in the

coxless pair A coxless pair is a rowing boat 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 having one oar, one on the stroke side (rower's right h ...

in Rio and with

Rebecca Scown Rebecca Scown (born 10 August 1983) is a professional Rowing (sport), rower from New Zealand. Together with Juliette Haigh, she won the bronze medal in the women's coxless pair at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Previously they had won gold in the wom ...

won silver, beaten by

Heather Stanning Heather Mary Stanning OBE (born 26 January 1985) is a retired British professional rower, a member of the Great Britain Rowing Team, and Royal Artillery officer. Ranked number 1 female rower in the world in 2016, she is a double Olympic champi ...

and Helen Glover of Great Britain. With the women's eight, she came fourth at the Rio Olympics. In November 2016, she announced that she would take 2017 off from rowing. She has started a career in the banking industry and did not return to rowing for the 2018 season either, but has not announced to

Rowing New Zealand Rowing New Zealand is the sports governing body for rowing in New Zealand. Its purpose is to provide leadership and support to enable an environment of success for the New Zealand rowing community. This includes secondary schools, clubs, masters ...

that she has retired from rowing.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Behrent, Genevieve Living people 1990 births New Zealand female rowers People educated at Southland Girls' High School World Rowing Championships medalists for New Zealand Olympic rowers for New Zealand Rowers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Oamaru Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for New Zealand Olympic medalists in rowing Massey University alumni 21st-century New Zealand women