Philippa June Baker (born 12 June 1963), now known by her married name Philippa Baker-Hogan, is a former New Zealand rower and politician. She was the first New Zealand woman to win a gold medal at
World Rowing Championships
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 ...
and won gold at world championships on two more occasions. She has twice represented
New Zealand at the Olympics. She has received numerous awards for her rowing success and in 2012, she and fellow double sculler
Brenda Lawson were inducted into the
New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame
The New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame is an organisation commemorating New Zealand's greatest sporting triumphs. It was inaugurated as part of the New Zealand sesquicentenary celebrations in 1990. Some 160 members have been inducted into the Hall o ...
. A trained radiographer, she manages her husband's medical practice. She has been a
Whanganui District Health Board and
Wanganui District
Whanganui District is one of the districts of New Zealand. It includes the city of Whanganui and surrounding areas.
Geography
Formerly spelled "Wanganui", the Whanganui District Council resulted from the amalgamation of Wanganui and Waitotara cou ...
Council member since
2004 and 2006, respectively, and was a mayoral candidate in
2010. She is a member of the
New Zealand Labour Party.
Early life
Baker was born in
Kaiapoi
Kaiapoi is a town in the Waimakariri District of the Canterbury region, in the South Island of New Zealand. The town is located approximately 17 kilometres north of central Christchurch, close to the mouth of the Waimakariri River. It is cons ...
in 1963. Baker is one of eight children. Her siblings include
Erin Baker (New Zealand
triathlete
A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of Swimming (sport), swimming, Cycle sport, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the t ...
) and Kathy and Maureen who were both national champions in swimming and aerobics.
Sporting career
Philippa Baker was initially a triathlete before she switched to rowing. She initially rowed for
Canterbury
Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour.
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...
before changing to
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a College town, 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. Cam ...
, and took her inspiration from
Stephanie Foster, the first New Zealand woman to win a medal at a
rowing world championship.
In 1992, her coach took up a job with the Swiss rowing team. Baker decided on
Dick Tonks
Richard William Tonks (born 21 February 1951) is a former national New Zealand rowing coach and a former rower who won a silver medal at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. Through his coaching career he has coached crews to a total of 25 World ...
as her new coach and thus, in 1993, she moved to
Wanganui
Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whang ...
to join the
Union Boat Club
The Union Boat Club (also known as UBC), founded in 1851, is an athletic club in Boston. It is the longest continuously operating rowing club in Boston. Located in the Beacon Hill neighborhood along the Charles River, the Club has grown beyond row ...
.
Baker has won a total of 19 or 21 national rowing titles during her career (sources differ).
In the 1987–88 season, she was the first rower to win both the lightweight and premier open single sculls title; it was to be 29 years before the achievement was repeated by
Zoe McBride in 2017.
Baker competed in the
1986 Commonwealth Games in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...
, Scotland, where she won silver in the lightweight women's single sculls. Later in the same month at the
1986 World Rowing Championships
The 1986 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 17 to 24 August 1986 at Nottingham in the United Kingdom.
Medal summary
Looking at the open weight classes only, East Germany was the most successful nation ...
, she came fourth in the same boat. At subsequent world championships in
1987
File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...
and
1988
File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...
, she came fifth and fourth, respectively. At the
1989 World Rowing Championships
The 1989 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 2 to 10 September 1989 at Lake Bled near Bled in SR Slovenia, Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југослав ...
, she competed in the lightweight women's double sculls, partnering with
Linda de Jong as stroke, and won silver.
At the
1991 World Rowing Championships
The 1991 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 19 to 25 August 1991 in Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Posta ...
, Baker returned to the lightweight women's single sculls and won gold, the first woman to win gold for New Zealand at World Rowing Championships.
Along with
Brenda Lawson she finished fourth in the
women's double sculls at the
1992 Summer Olympics
The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...
in
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
. At the
1993
File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...
and
1994 World Rowing Championships
The 1994 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 11 to 18 September 1994 at Eagle Creek Park, Indianapolis
Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of ...
, Baker and Lawson won gold in the double sculls. The duo again competed at the
1995 World Rowing Championships
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...
in
Tampere
Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...
, Finland and won a bronze medal. At the
1996 Summer Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...
in the United States, they qualified for the A final but came sixth, i.e. last.
Awards
Baker was the
Waikato
Waikato () is a local government region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipa District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsul ...
sports person of the year in 1989 and 1991; at the time, she was based in Cambridge.
For her 1991 gold medal, she won the 1991 supreme award at the
Halberg Awards
The Halberg Awards are a set of awards, given annually since 1949, recognising New Zealand's top sporting achievements. They are named for New Zealand former middle-distance runner and Olympic gold medalist Sir Murray Halberg. The initial award ...
, and she was named New Zealand sportswoman of the year.
In the
1993 New Year Honours, both Baker and her sister Erin were appointed
Members of the Order of the British Empire, for services to rowing and as a triathlete, respectively. Baker was the Wanganui sports person of the year in 1993 and 1994.
Baker and Lawson were named New Zealand team of the year at the 1994 Halberg Awards, and they also won the supreme award. In 2012, Baker and Lawson were inducted into the
New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame
The New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame is an organisation commemorating New Zealand's greatest sporting triumphs. It was inaugurated as part of the New Zealand sesquicentenary celebrations in 1990. Some 160 members have been inducted into the Hall o ...
, the first woman rowers to achieve this accolade.
The Sports Hall of Fame citation reads:
Post sport
Baker trained as a
radiographer
Radiographers, also known as radiologic technologists, diagnostic radiographers and medical radiation technologists are healthcare professionals who specialize in the imaging of human anatomy for the diagnosis and treatment of pathology. Radi ...
.
She is married to the
osteopath Shaun Hogan and manages his practice in Whanganui. Baker and Hogan met as he was one of the team doctors for the Union Boat Club.
Baker was elected to the
Whanganui District Health Board at the
2004 local elections.
In a by-election in 2006, she was elected as a councillor to
Wanganui District
Whanganui District is one of the districts of New Zealand. It includes the city of Whanganui and surrounding areas.
Geography
Formerly spelled "Wanganui", the Whanganui District Council resulted from the amalgamation of Wanganui and Waitotara cou ...
in support of the then-mayor,
Michael Laws
Michael Laws (born 1957) is a New Zealand politician, broadcaster and writer. Laws was a Member of Parliament for six years, starting in 1990, initially for the National Party. In Parliament he voted against his party on multiple occasions an ...
.
Baker represents the Aramoho
ward
Ward may refer to:
Division or unit
* Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward
* Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...
. In the
2007 local elections, she was confirmed as a district councillor and health board member. After Laws announced his retirement from the mayoralty at the
2010 local elections, Baker was one of the five
mayoral candidates, plus she also stood for the district council and the health board. She came a distant fourth in the mayoral race, but was re-elected for the other two positions. In the
2013 local elections, Baker successfully stood for the district council and health board positions again, but not for mayor, but declared that she was a likely mayoral candidate in
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...
.
As a district councillor, she caused controversy in 2011 with her comments over
Palmerston North
Palmerston North (; mi, Te Papa-i-Oea, known colloquially as Palmy) is a city in the North Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Manawatū-Whanganui region. Located in the eastern Manawatu Plains, the city is near the north bank of the ...
's bid when Whanganui was eliminated from the short-list for the proposed New Zealand Cycling Centre of Excellence; in the end, Palmerston North missed out, too, and what has become known as the
Avantidrome was built in Cambridge.
Since 2009, she is a trustee of the Whanganui Community Foundation and has been the chair of the organisation since 2013.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Philippa
1963 births
Living people
Rowers at the 1992 Summer Olympics
Rowers at the 1996 Summer Olympics
Olympic rowers of New Zealand
New Zealand city councillors
New Zealand female rowers
People from Kaiapoi
New Zealand radiologists
Rowers from Whanganui
New Zealand sportsperson-politicians
World Rowing Championships medalists for New Zealand
Commonwealth Games silver medallists for New Zealand
Commonwealth Games medallists in rowing
Rowers at the 1986 Commonwealth Games
Whanganui District Health Board members
20th-century New Zealand women