Jessica Morrison

Fast Facts

Sport: Rowing
Event: Women’s Sweep Squad 
Olympic History: Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020 (gold)
Coach: John Keogh
Highlights: Gold medal at Tokyo 2020. Winning two silver medals at the 2019 World Rowing Championships 
Year Born: 1992
Born: Fitzroy, VIC 
Junior Club: Mercantile Rowing Club (Melbourne, VIC)

About Jessica

Jessica Morrison was informed of her inclusion in her first Olympic campaign just a fortnight before she raced at Rio’s Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon. A frenzied training period undermined the Australian Women’s Eights performance, with the crew failing to qualify for the A-final after finishing fifth in their heat. 

Once returning from Brazil, Morrison took an informal sabbatical leave, returning to the rowing arena upon accepting her invitation to Rowing Australia’s National Training Centre in the latter stages of 2018. While training under John Keogh, Tom Westgarth and Ellen Randell, the Melbourne native became a regular fixture of the Australian Women’s Sweep Squad, where she helped her crew to respective gold and silver medals at the 2019 World Rowing Cups 2 and 3, as well as an additional second place finish at the 2019 World Championships.

Morrison also competed in the Women’s Pairs in each international regatta of her 2019 season. Paired with Western Australian Annabelle McIntryre, Morrison earned a silver and gold medal at the 2019 World Rowing Cups 2 and 3 respectively, while also earning a silver medal at the World Championships. 

At her second Olympic Games, Morrison won a gold medal as part of the Women’s Four alongside Annabelle McIntyre, 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. Morrison and McIntyre 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.