Stephen Bird (born 11 May 1988) is a South African-born Australian sprint canoeist. He is a three-time national champion (2010, 2011, and 2012) in the men's kayak doubles (200 m), and a member of the Canning River Canoe Club in

Perth, Western Australia Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, under his personal coach Ramon Andersson. Bird took up canoeing in 1996 in Richmond, South Africa, together with his brother. They used the kayaks left by his uncle, who immigrated to Australia that year. He attended

Michaelhouse Michaelhouse is a full boarding senior school for boys founded in 1896. It is located in the Balgowan valley in the Midlands of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. History ''St. Michael's Diocesan College'' was founded in Pietermaritzburg in 18 ...

in KwaZulu-Natal, during which time he was awarded his Protea Blazer for representing South Africa at junior level. In 2007 his family moved to

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, Western Australia, where he studied commerce and psychology at the

Curtin University Curtin University, formerly known as Curtin University of Technology and Western Australian Institute of Technology (WAIT), is an Australian public research university based in Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. It is named after John Curtin, ...

. Bird qualified for the men's K-2 200 metres 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 ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, by placing first from the 2012 ICF Oceania Qualification Tournament in

Penrith, New South Wales Penrith is a city in New South Wales, Australia, located in Greater Western Sydney, 55 kilometres (31 mi) west of the Sydney central business district on the banks of the Nepean River, on the outskirts of the Cumberland Plain. Its elevati ...

. Bird and his partner Jesse Phillips finished sixth in the final by four hundredths of a second (0.04) behind the Argentine pair

Miguel Correa Miguel Antonio Correa (born 11 October 1983) is an Argentine sprint canoeist who competed since the late 2000s. At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, he was eliminated in the semifinals of both the K-1 500 m and the K-1 1000 m events. At t ...

and Rubén Voisard, with a time of 35.315 seconds. Bird was the dominant K-1 paddler in the Rio 2016 selection events, winning gold in the 2016 Oceania Championships in Adelaide in February, and again at the 2016 National Sprint Championships the following month. He placed eighth at the

Rio 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 d ...

References

External links

Profile – Australian Canoe Federation
1988 births Australian male canoeists Living people Olympic canoeists of Australia Canoeists at the 2012 Summer Olympics South African emigrants to Australia Sportspeople from Pietermaritzburg Sportspeople from Perth, Western Australia Canoeists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Alumni of Michaelhouse {{Australia-canoe-bio-stub