Stephen Bird

Stephen Bird
Bird at the 2016 Olympics
Personal information
Nationality Australia
Born (1988-05-11) 11 May 1988 (age 36)
Pietermaritzburg, South Africa[1]
Height189 cm (6 ft 2 in)[1]
Weight86 kg (190 lb)[1]
Sport
CountryAustralia
SportCanoeing
EventSprint canoe
ClubCanning River Canoe Club[2]
TeamAustralia
Coached byRamon Andersson (personal)
Jimmy Owens (national)[3]
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals2012, 2016
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Stephen Bird (born 11 May 1988) is a South African-born Australian sprint canoeist.[2][4] 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, under his personal coach Ramon Andersson.[2][5]

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 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, Western Australia, where he studied commerce and psychology at the Curtin University.[3]

Bird qualified for the men's K-2 200 metres at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, by placing first from the 2012 ICF Oceania Qualification Tournament in Penrith, New South Wales.[6][7] 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 and Rubén Voisard, with a time of 35.315 seconds.[8][9]

Bird was the dominant K-1 paddler in the Rio 2016 selection events beating out his partner Jessie Philips, even though Steve and jessie had planned to go to the Olympics in a K2. He would go on to win gold in the 2016 Oceania Championships in Adelaide in February, and again at the 2016 National Sprint Championships the following month.[1] He went through heat three second with a time of 34.584. He went through semi final two second with a time of 34.650. He placed eighth in the A finals at the Rio Olympics with a time of 36.426.

  1. ^ a b c d "Stephen Bird". rio2016.olympics.com.au. Australian Olympic Committee. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
  2. ^ a b c "Stephen Bird". London 2012. Archived from the original on 1 May 2013. Retrieved 20 February 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  3. ^ a b Stephen Bird Archived 20 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine. nbcolympics.com
  4. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Stephen Bird". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 20 February 2013.
  5. ^ "Australian Olympic Team – Stephen Bird". Australian Olympic Committee. Retrieved 20 February 2013.
  6. ^ "Phillips and Bird fly with a winning formula". Infostrada Sports. Oceania Canoe Federation. 4 March 2012. Retrieved 20 February 2013.
  7. ^ "London 2012 – Young guns win on bumper final day". Australian Olympic Committee. 4 March 2012. Retrieved 20 February 2013.
  8. ^ "Men's Kayak Double (K2) 200m Final A". London 2012. Archived from the original on 11 April 2013. Retrieved 20 February 2013.
  9. ^ "Russia destroy field to take men's K2 200". ABC News Australia. 11 August 2012. Retrieved 20 February 2013.