Olivia Loe (born 15 January 1992) is a New Zealand representative

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 ...

. She is a two-time world champion in the

double scull A double scull 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") are long, narrow, and broadly s ...

and is the incumbent world champion winning gold at the

2019 World Rowing Championships The 2019 World Rowing Championships were held in Ottensheim, Austria from 25 August to 1 September 2019. Apart from Ottensheim, the right to host the championships was contested by Hamburg in Germany, Račice in the Czech Republic, and Varese ...

with

Brooke Donoghue Brooke Donoghue (born 6 January 1995) is a New Zealand rower. She has twice won the world championship in the double scull alongside Olivia Loe, is the incumbent world champion, and won a silver medal in this boat class at the 2020 Tokyo Olympi ...

. She has been selected in the New Zealand senior squad for the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

but in a surprise move at the final crew selections Loe was replaced in the double scull by

Hannah Osborne Hannah Osborne (born 10 March 1994) is a New Zealand rower. A member of the national squad, she qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics. In a surprise move, she was selected in the double scull alongside Brooke Donoghue, displacing the reigning ...

and selected to race the New Zealand women's quad-scull.

Early life and sporting pedigree

Loe was born in 1992 in New Zealand. Her father is Richard Loe, a prominent

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player with 49 appearances for the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

. Olivia's elder sister Jessica (born 1989) has also represented New Zealand internationally in rowing. After Jessica took up rowing in 2004, Olivia followed her in 2006. The sisters' club rowing has been with the Avon Rowing Club in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

and both attended St Margaret's College. Apart from rowing, Olivia Loe plays rugby union.

International rowing career

Loe first competed in rowing internationally in 2010, when she attended 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 Račice, Czech Republic. She came 11th with the junior women's quadruple sculls. In the 2011 trials 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 ...

to determine the country's squad, she teamed up with Jennifer Storey, the younger sister of John Storey. At the 2011 World Rowing U23 Championships in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

in the Netherlands, she came fourth with the U23 women's quadruple sculls. At the

2012 World Rowing U23 Championships World Rowing U23 Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by FISA The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 ("FISA" , ) is a United States federal law that establishes procedures for the physical and electronic sur ...

Trakai Trakai (; see names section for alternative and historic names) is a historic town and lake resort in Lithuania. It lies west of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. Because of its proximity to Vilnius, Trakai is a popular tourist destination. T ...

, Lithuania, she won a bronze medal with the U23 women's quadruple sculls. At the 2013 World Rowing U23 Championships in

Linz Linz ( , ; cs, Linec) is the capital of Upper Austria and third-largest city in Austria. In the north of the country, it is on the Danube south of the Czech border. In 2018, the population was 204,846. In 2009, it was a European Capital of ...

, Austria, she came fifth with the U23 women's quadruple sculls. At the

2014 World Rowing U23 Championships World Rowing U23 Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by FISA The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 ("FISA" , ) is a United States federal law that establishes procedures for the physical and electronic sur ...

Varese Varese ( , , or ; lmo, label= Varesino, Varés ; la, Baretium; archaic german: Väris) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 has reached 80,559. It is the c ...

, Italy, she won a silver medal with the U23 women's four. In the 2015 season, Loe competed at

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 ...

s in Italy and Switzerland in the women's single sculls, but she did not compete 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 ...

. In the 2016 season, Loe competed at World Rowing Cups in Switzerland and Poland in the women's pair as New Zealand's reserve boat to

Genevieve Behrent Genevieve "Gen" Behrent (now Macky; born 25 September 1990) is a New Zealand rower. Schooling Behrent was born in Oamaru in 1990. She received her schooling at Southland Girls' High School in Invercargill. Behrent had planned to start her ter ...

and

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 ...

. This being an Olympic year, her class was not raced at the

2016 World Rowing Championships The 2016 World Rowing Championships was the 46th edition and held from 21 to 28 August 2016 at the Willem-Alexander Baan in Rotterdam, Netherlands in conjunction with the World Junior Rowing Championships and the World Rowing U23 Championships. ...

, but she did not qualify for the Olympics either; Behrent and Scown won Olympic silver for New Zealand in that class. In the 2017 season, Loe competed at World Rowing Cups in Poland and Switzerland in the women's double sculls with

, and they won gold in both races. At the

2017 World Rowing Championships The 2017 World Rowing Championships were the 47th edition of the World Rowing Championships that were held from 24 September to 1 October 2017 in Sarasota, Florida. Host selection During 2013, Plovdiv and Sarasota, Florida both applied to hos ...

Sarasota, Florida Sarasota () is a city in Sarasota County on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is renowned for its cultural and environmental amenities, beaches, resorts, and the Sarasota School of Architecture. The city is located in the sout ...

, she became world champion in the women's double sculls partnered with Donoghue. She regained that title with Donoghue at the

in Linz.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Loe, Olivia 1992 births Living people New Zealand female rowers Rowers from Christchurch World Rowing Championships medalists for New Zealand People educated at St Margaret's College Olympic rowers for New Zealand Rowers at the 2020 Summer Olympics 21st-century New Zealand women