Bernadette Wallace

Fast Facts

Sport: Canoe – Sprint
Event: Canoe
Olympic History: Tokyo 2020
Highlights: Two world cup gold medals on the same day in 2013, 2019 National Champion C1 and C2 500
Coach: Cristi Florian
Year Born: 1989
State Born: New South Wales   

About Bernadette

Bernadette Wallace is following in her brother’s footsteps, but her Olympic journey is unique and historic. 

12 years ago, Bernadette’s brother Ken made history when he became Australia’s most successful male Olympian in Beijing, winning two gold medals in the K1 500 and 1000 events. 

In 2020, Bernadette became one of only two Australian women to compete in an Olympic canoe event as the discipline debuted in the women’s program at Tokyo. 

Ken’s influence sparked Bernadette’s interest in kayaking as she envied his overseas adventures. She would drive her brother to the airport and wanted the same experience for herself. 

Despite a full roster of sports, including swimming, surf lifesaving and figure skating, Bernadette found time to get along to a nearby creek and try kayaking.   

The friendships she formed kept her going in the early days, but the results were also a driving force. In 2013, Bernadette won world cup medals in the K1 5000 and K2 1000 with Olympian Naomi Flood. 

Wallace’s bid to make the Rio Olympics in 2016 was cut short due to a cancer scare. Weeks before the selection trials, she was diagnosed with melanoma following the removal of a lump on her neck. 

With a new outlook, Wallace accepted a coaching position in Canada. She began canoeing to keep up with her young squad. 

At the age of 27, Wallace achieved her biggest personal and sporting achievement when she returned to the sport in a different class of boat, while coaching in Canada.

Wallace started to prepare for an Olympics tilt. She returned from Canada and relocated to South Australia to prepare with paddle partner Josephine Bulmer. 

In 2020, Wallace and Bulmer secured Australia’s first-ever women’s Olympic canoe quota spots when they won the C2 500 at the Oceania Canoe Sprint Championships. Their Olympic debut was confirmed and history was written when they won the C2 500 and Wallace won the C1 200 at the Australian Championships.   

Wallace competed in both the Women's C-1 200m and Women's C-2 500m alongside Josephine Bulmer, making her debut at the Tokyo Olympic games. In the individual discipline, she would earn an opening time of 48.209, allowing her qualification to the quarter-final of the C-1 200m. With a time of 48.330, she would place 4th in the quarter-final, which would not allow her to progress into the final stages of the event. 

Competing alongside fellow Australian Bulmer, the pair would open the C-2 500m event with a time of 2:11.322, allowing progression to the quarter-final. After achieving a similar time in the quarter-final, the pair would not be in contention for medal placements and instead compete in their final race in Final B. They would achieve their best time of the event, with 2:05.698, earning them an overall 13th-placed finish in the C-2 500m.