Lucy's Story
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 gold at the 2019 World Championships
Year Born: 1991
Born: Nhill, VIC
About Lucy
Lucy Stephan first marked her presence on the international stage in 2012 at the U23 World Championships, where she won a silver medal as a member of the Women's Four. A year later the crew were on top of the podium as they claimed the U23 World Championships gold medal.
Stephan’s quick rise in the rowing arena culminated in 2016, where the then 24-year-old made her Olympics debut as part of the Australian Women’s Eight. Stephan’s crew were called to Rio with a fortnight's notice, and after a frenzied training period, failed to qualify for the medal race after finishing fifth in their heat.
Once returning from Olympic competition, Stephan was named in the Women’s Four alongside Molly Goodman, Sarah Hawe and Karina Werry. The crew earned gold at the 2017 World Rowing Cups 2 and 3 and the World Championships and they were subsequently named the 2017 Australian Female Crew of the Year at the annual Rower of the Year Awards.
Stephan continued to race for the Australian Women’s Four during the 2018 and 2019 seasons, winning four golds, one silver and one bronze medals across the two seasons, including top honours at the 2019 World Rowing Championships.
In Tokyo and at her second Olympics, years' of persistence paid off as Stephan claimed the gold medal in the Women's Four alongside Annabelle McIntyre, Jessica Morrison and Rosemary Popa. 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.
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