Juliette Anne Haigh (born 4 August 1982), also known by her married name Juliette Drysdale but better known by her maiden name, is a retired professional

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 ...

. Haigh was born in 1982 in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, New Zealand. Her parents are Penny and John Haigh. She knew that she wanted to compete at Olympic Games as a child but had not chosen a sport yet. She started rowing while she attended

Takapuna Grammar School Takapuna Grammar School is a state coeducational secondary school located in the suburb of Belmont on the North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand. Established in 1927, the school mainly serves the eponymous suburb of Takapuna and the entire Devo ...

. Haigh has studied public relations at the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

, 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 ...

, and

Massey University Massey University ( mi, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa) is a university based in Palmerston North, New Zealand, with significant campuses in Albany and Wellington. Massey University has approximately 30,883 students, 13,796 of whom are extramural or ...

. Haigh was in the New Zealand Women's Pair from 2004 to 2008 with

Nicky Coles Nicola Anne Coles (married name Austin; born 7 January 1972 in Auckland) is a New Zealand rower. In 2001, she won silver at the World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors fr ...

, then returned to the event after a year out and partnered

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 ...

in the boat. She won a gold medal in the women's pair at the

World Rowing 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 even ...

regatta in Lucerne, 2010 and followed this by winning 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. The annual week-long rowing regatta was organised by FISA (the International Rowi ...

in Lake Karapiro. Haigh and Scown won the bronze medal at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in the same event. Haigh officially announced her retirement from competitive rowing on 2 December 2012. After having been together for six years, Haigh got engaged to fellow New Zealand rower

Mahé Drysdale Alexander Mahé Owens Drysdale (born 19 November 1978) is a retired New Zealand rower. Drysdale is a two-time Olympic champion and a five-time world champion in the single sculls. He is a seven-time New Zealand national champion and five-time ...

in 2013. They first met in 2001 when they were both members of Auckland's West End Rowing Club. They became close friends and later flatted together. They married later in 2013 and spent their honeymoon on Mahé in the Seychelles; her husband is named for the island but had never been there before. The Drysdales had a girl in October 2014 and they live on a farm in

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 ...

References

External links

*
Video interview
with Rebecca Scown and Juliette Haigh {{DEFAULTSORT:Haigh, Juliette Living people 1982 births Rowers from Auckland Olympic rowers for New Zealand Olympic bronze medalists for New Zealand Rowers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2012 Summer Olympics New Zealand female rowers Olympic medalists in rowing Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics People educated at Takapuna Grammar School World Rowing Championships medalists for New Zealand