Owen's Story
Fast Facts
Sport: Surfing
Event: Men
Olympic History: Tokyo 2020 (bronze)
Highlights: Bronze at Tokyo 2020
Year Born: 1990
Born: NSW
About Owen
Owen knows ‘The Irukandjis’ National Surfing Team is named after a dangerous jellyfish, but he’s found the humble sandbank can also present a near-death experience. Just being named in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Team is one of the greatest comebacks in Australian sport after what Owen went through in Hawaii in late 2015.
After scoring two perfect-10 rides from World Championship Tour (WCT) judges to win the Fiji Pro, Owen suffered a serious brain injury during a training session at Pipeline in December - two days before the final event of the year. He sat out the entire 2016 season, needing all this time to learning to surf again.
Remarkably, he won his return event in March 2017 at Snapper Rocks on Queensland’s Gold Coast and put it down to “dad power” after becoming a father to son Vali three months earlier, with partner Kita.
"I had to confront every fear just to get back here," Owen said.
"To get back to the sport that pretty much took me out, and could have taken me out forever. I'm just over the moon."
The way his family rallied around him, including his younger sister and two-time world champion Tyler Wright, shows the strength and depth of their bond.
Born in Nowra, Owen is the second-eldest of five kids who grew up surfing the beach/point breaks around Culburra on the NSW South Coast. He arrived on the WCT in 2010 and won Rookie of the Year with his top-10 finish (seventh).
In 2011 he made three consecutive WCT finals, up against the then 10-time world champion Kelly Slater. Owen lost to him at Teahupoo and Trestles but beat him in New York.
In 2021 the Wrights have made the World Surf League a family affair. Owen, Tyler and younger brother Mikey all competed.
At Tokyo 2020 Owen beat two-time world champion and world no.1 Gabriel Medina (BRA) in a bronze-medal contest, to win the first ever Olympic surfing medal.
He won the tight contest 11.97 to 11.77 in challenging conditions, and it went down to the final seconds against an opponent capable of creating round-winning scores from seemingly average waves.
"The Olympics to me has been like that beacon of light. It really has," Owen said after the event.
"I was going through some really tough times. I had some long-lasting symptoms and I questioned whether or not I would do the sport again.
"To all the TBI (traumatic brain injury) survivors out there, all the people that have had bad brain injuries, I just want to let you know it's all possible. Don't give up. I do it for the TBI guys."
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