Annabelle McIntyre

Fast Facts

Sport: Rowing
Event: Women’s Sweep Squad 
Olympic History: Tokyo 2020 (gold)
Coach: John Keogh
Highlights: Gold medal at Tokyo 2020. Winning two silver medals at the 2019 World Rowing Championships 
Year Born: 1996
Born: Subiaco, WA
Junior Club: Fremantle Rowing Club (East Fremantle, WA)

About Annabelle

McIntyre first began rowing in her native Western Australia at the Fremantle Rowing Club. From East Fremantle, Annabelle won silver at the 2017 U23 World Rowing Championships, and went on to win two silvers in the Women's Pair and Women's Eight in 2019, at senior level. 

An impressive performance overseas earned McIntyre an invitation to Rowing Australia’s National Training Centre, prompting her relocation to Penrith in search of an elevated competitive environment and an attractive coaching infrastructure. 

Once under the tutelage of John Keogh, Tom Westgarth and Ellen Randell, McIntyre became a fixture on the Australian Women’s Eights crew, with three World Championships and two World Rowing Cups all resulting in podium finishes. 

McIntyre made her Olympic debut at the Tokyo Olympics as the Stroke of the Australian Women’s Four and won a gold medal with crewmates Jessica Morrison, Rosemary Popa and Lucy Stephan. The result is one for the history books as the Australians claimed the Olympic title after the boat class was re-introduced to the Games for the first time since the Barcelona 1992 Olympics.

The result came during the ‘the hour of power,’ a moment in time when Australia’s Men’s and Women’s Fours stormed home for gold and the Men’s and Women’s Quadruple Sculls claimed bronze. The four medals won over the course of an hour by Australian rowing crews, along with swimmer Ariarne Titmus' gold medal in the 200 metres freestyle, contributed to the most successful period in the history of the Australian Olympic Team.

Racing out of lane three in the Final, the crew held off the fast-finishing Dutch team to win the gold medal in an Olympic best time of 6 minutes 15.37 secs. The winning margin between Australia and silver medallists Netherlands was just 0.34 of a second.

Due to the intense physicality of racing, it is rare in rowing for athletes to compete in more than one boat class. McIntyre and Morrison showed form and resilience to back up their gold medal winning performance in the Women’s Four with a start in the Women’s Pair.

Needing to finish in the top three to advance to the A-Final, the Australians started their Semi-Final having been crowned Olympic Champions in the Women’s Four just two hours earlier. Despite a very close race, they crossed the line in fourth and had to settle for the B-Final, which they ultimately won to finish their Olympic campaign in seventh position.