By Dominique Tassell
Warwick’s own Harriet Hudson is a bronze medal winner.
Alongside teammates Caitlin Cronin, Rowena Meredith, and Ria Thompson, Hudson, 23, represented Australia in Tokyo at the Olympics’ women’s quadruple sculls A final event on Wednesday 28 July.
China placed first and Poland second.
It was tight race, with a nail biting sprint to bronze at the very end between Australia and Italy.
Italy placed fourth, followed by Germany and Netherlands.
Hudson rowed the third seat of the Australian quad, the team placing fourth in the women’s sculls event on Friday 23 July and first in the repechage on Sunday 25 July to qualify for the A final.
The quad won gold at the final Olympic qualification regatta in Lucerne, Switzerland in May this year, and trained in Rockhampton in the lead-up to Tokyo.
Hudson is now a two-time national senior champion, a twice silver medal winner at World U23 Champions, and a bronze-winning Olympian.
After the win, Harriet said “honestly, I still cannot believe it“.
She said the team “are absolutely on cloud nine over here“.
“Enjoying every moment of the celebrations.“
Since the event, Harriet and her teammates have been in hotel quarantine.
Harriet showed off a care package from Sydney Rowing Club on her Instagram story 9 August, complete with quarantine essentials like cheese and wine.
Plenty of locals were cheering Harriet on, with Little Gallery Cafe on Palmerin Street setting up a window display.
When in training, Harriet said getting to represent Australia in the Olympics was “a dream come true”.
She and her team trained three times a day in preparation, training in a “heat training room” that was around 32C and at least 80 per cent humidity to prepare themselves for the Tokyo weather.
She said it was all about team work, stating that “you can be really fit and strong but if the crew isn’t in perfect harmony it’ll be hard“.
Harriet said she’ll “savour the little things like going out to brunch” when she has some downtime.
