By Dominique Tassell
In 2011, a 13-year-old Harriet Hudson told the media that she wanted to represent Australia in rowing one day. This month, she will compete in her first Olympics.
The now 23-year-old Warwick local will join her teammates Caitlin Cronin, Rowena Meredith, and Ria Thompson in Tokyo after their boat qualified for the Australian Olympic Team.
The athletes won gold at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland on 17 May.
The Women’s Quad team were the only team of four to qualify in Lucerne, in what is called the “regatta of death”.
The Australian Rowing Team is 38 people strong, with Harriet one of 29 team members competing for the first time.
With nine boats qualified, Australia is sending one more boat to Tokyo than we did to Rio.
Harriet is currently in training in Rockhampton and says “it’s been pretty good”.
“We’ve had quite a number of rainy days.”
In Rockhampton, the team has access to a “heat training room” that’s around 32 degrees Celsius and at least 80 per cent humidity.
Harriet says getting to represent Australia in the Olympics is “a dream come true.”
Harriet trains three times a day in preparation to compete, with every minute focused on performing her best in Tokyo.
“As we’re heading close to the Olympics it’s more high intensity because we have a good base and we have a focus on speed and technical ability.”
“It’s not only endurance but it’s got a huge technical part to it.
“You can be really fit and strong but if the crew isn’t in perfect harmony it’ll be hard.”
She says her schedule is “pretty insane”.
“It’s tough, and you do a lot of training but it’s also simple because you have that focus”.
“Train, eat, recover.”
Harriet says this helps her zone in on training.
She says she loves “the adrenaline and good vibes” of training with her team.
Harriet is a 4th year occupational therapy student and usually has to fit that in with her training, but is on break at the moment.
She says she’ll “savour the little things like going out to brunch” when she has some downtime.
Harriet will compete alongside her team in the women’s quad sculls on Friday 23 July.
