Erik Horrie

Erik Horrie OAM (born 17 October 1979) is an Australian wheelchair basketball player and a five-time world champion rower. He was a member of the Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team. Switching to rowing in 2011, he made an immediate impact in the sport, first winning the NSW State Rowing Championships and then the National Rowing Championships in Adelaide. He has won silver medals at the 2012, 2016, 2020 Summer Paralympics and gold medals at the 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018 World Rowing Championships.[1][2]

Erik Horrie
2016 Australian Paralympic team portrait of Horrie
Personal information
NationalityAustralian
Born (1979-10-17) 17 October 1979
Sport
CountryAustralia
SportRowing
Medal record
Adaptive rowing
Representing  Australia
Paralympic Games
Silver medal – second place 2012 London Single Sculls ASM1x
Silver medal – second place 2016 Rio de Janeiro Single Sculls ASM1x
Silver medal – second place 2020 Tokyo Single Sculls PR1x
World Championships
Gold medal – first place2013 ChungjuSingle Sculls – ASM1x
Gold medal – first place2014 AmsterdamSingle Sculls – ASM1x
Gold medal – first place2015 AiguebeletteSingle Sculls – ASM1x
Gold medal – first place2017 SarasotaSingle Sculls – PR1M1x.
Gold medal – first place2018 PlovdivSingle Sculls – PR1M1x.
Bronze medal – third place2019 Linz-OttensheimSingle Sculls – PR1M1x.
Bronze medal – third place2011 BledSingle Sculls- ASM1x

Personal

Horrie was born on 17 October 1979[3] in New Zealand.[4][5][6] At the age of seven, he was made a ward of the state due to domestic violence in his home and subsequently spent most of his childhood in foster care homes.[7] In 2001, he was in a motor vehicle accident that left him a paraplegic.[4][8] As of 2016, he lives in Penrith, New South Wales.[8] In studying youth work, Horrie said "I want to help underprivileged kids because I can relate to what they may be going through. I’m not saying I understand, but hopefully use my experiences to show them they have a choice."[7]

Horrie is married to Michelle and they have three children.[4][7]

Sporting career
Erik Horrie rowing on the water
Erik Horrie rowing on the water
Horrie competing at the 2012 London Paralympics

Basketball

Horrie was classified as a 4 point player.[9] He played in Australia's National Wheelchair Basketball League's Brisbane Spinning Bullets.[9][8]

He was a member of the Australia men's national wheelchair basketball team. He attempted to make the team for the 2008 Summer Paralympics but did not get selected[4] for the national team until 2009 when he played in the 2009 IBWF AOZ Oceania Championship and the 2009 Rollers World Challenge.[9] Following that, he left the sport.[4]

Rowing

Horrie is classified as an AS rower[8] and is a member of the Dragon Rowing Club.[10][4] He switched to rowing in 2011 following the 2008 Summer Paralympics after having been identified by a selector from Rowing Australia.[4][8] In 2011, he did water training Breakfast Creek and off-water training at West End, Queensland.[4] The year, he had a scholarship with the Australian Institute of Sport.[11]

In 2011, he finished first at the New South Wales State Championship.[4] At the 2011 National Rowing Championships in Adelaide, he finished first.[10] In April 2011, he participated in a national team training camp at the Australian Institute of Sport.[10] In the arms, shoulders men's single scull event at the 2011 World Championships in Bled, Slovenia, he finished third.[5][6][8] He competed in the 2012 World Rowing Cup 3 event in Germany.[12] He represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics and he won a silver medal in the Men's Single Sculls – ASM1x.[8][13][14][15]

At the 2013 World Championships in Chungju, Korea, he won a gold medal in the Men's Single Sculls – ASM1x.[16] He was coached by Jason Baker. He won back to back gold medals by winning the Men's Single Sculls – ASM1x at the 2014 World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam, Netherlands.[17]

Horrie won his third consecutive Men's Single Sculls – ASM1x title at the 2015 World Championships in Aiguebelette, France.[18]

At the 2016 Rio Paralympics, he won the silver medal in the Men's Single Sculls – ASM1x. This repeated his result at the London Olympics.

Horrie won his four world championships title in winning the gold medal in the Men's PR1M1x at the 2017 World Rowing Championships in Sarasota, Florida. Horrie won the first PR1 M1x World Championship title raced over 2000 m and, but also set a new world's best time after crossing the line in a time of 9 minutes 39 seconds.[19]

At the 2018 World Rowing Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, he won his fifth consecutive title in the Men's PR1 Men's Single Scull and broke his own World's Best Time, crossing the line in a time of 9 minutes 16.90 seconds, some 8 seconds faster than his previous World Record.[20] Horrie won the bronze medal in the Men's PR1 Men's Single Scull at the 2019 World Rowing Championships in Linz-Ottensheim, Austria. After the race, Horrie said 'It just wasn't my day, but I'm happy to come away with the medal considering the season I’ve had coming back from injury.'[21]

At the 2020 Summer Paralympics, Horrie won his third Paralympic silver medal by finishing second in the Men's Single Sculls, with a time of 10:00.82.[22]

Horrie finished fourth in the Men's PR1 Men's Single Scull at the 2022 World Rowing Championships. Horrie competed at the 2023 World Rowing Championships and made the final Men's PR1 Men's Single Scull by did not start.

Paratriathlon

In 2013, he competed in the first ever paratriathlon held in Australia.[23]

He placed 2nd of 8 male handcycle/wheelchair athletes in the OTU Paratriathlon Oceania Championships in 2014.[24]

Recognition

References
Wikinews has related news:
  1. "Australian Paralympic Rowers to turn silver into gold". Australian Paralympic Committee News. 11 July 2016. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
  2. "Para-Rowers Overcome Adversity To Secure Tokyo Berth". Paralympics Australia. 12 July 2021. Retrieved 12 July 2021.
  3. "Athlete profile: Erik Horrie". Rowing Australia. Archived from the original on 24 September 2013. Retrieved 9 January 2013.
  4. Whiting, Michael (24 February 2011). "High hopes for Horrie". City North News. Brisbane, Australia. p. 11. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
  5. "Two more Aussie boats qualify for Olympics". Australia: AAP News. 2 September 2011. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
  6. "Australian win at rowing world champs". Australia: AAP News. 2 September 2011. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
  7. Logue, Matt (2 July 2016). "Paralympic rower Erik Horrie takes positives out of everything life throws at him". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 3 July 2016.
  8. "Erik Horrie". Australia: Australian Paralympic Committee. 2012. Retrieved 13 July 2012.
  9. "Basketball Australia : Erik Horrie". Basketball Australia. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
  10. Whiting, Michael (17 March 2011). "Sports extra with Michael Whiting". City North News. Brisbane, Australia. p. 55. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
  11. "OLYMPIC HOPEFULS". Canberra Times. Canberra, Australia. 26 November 2011. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
  12. "Erik Horrie of Australia Competes in the Adaptive Events... News Photo". Getty Images AU. 14 June 2012. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
  13. "WEEKEND SCOREBOARD". The Australian. Australia. 2 April 2012. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
  14. "2012 Aust Rowing Team". Australia: AAP News. 1 April 2012. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
  15. "WEEKEND SCOREBOARD". The Australian. Australia. 2 April 2012. p. 32. Retrieved 17 July 2012.
  16. "Golden Day for Australian Crews". Rowing Australia News. 28 August 2013. Archived from the original on 10 September 2013. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  17. "Two golds for Australian rowing at the World champs". Sportsfan, 28 August 2014. Archived from the original on 31 August 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
  18. "Horrie, Ross and Bellis crowned champions three years in a row". Australian Paralympic Committee News. 3 September 2015. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  19. "Golden day for Erik Horrie in Sarasota". Rowing Australia website. October 2017. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
  20. "Horrie claims his fifth World Rowing Championships title". Rowing Australia website. 16 September 2018. Retrieved 16 September 2018.
  21. "Silver lining for Women's Eight in Austria". Rowing Australia. 2 September 2019. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  22. "Australian Paralympic Team for Tokyo 2021". The Roar. Retrieved 30 June 2022.
  23. "Erik Horrie". Australia: Australian Paralympic Committee. 2013. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  24. Union, International Triathlon. "Results: Women's PT3 - 2014 Penrith OTU Paratriathlon Oceania Championships - Triathlon.org".
  25. "World Rowing announces 2014 Award winners". World Rowing News, 7 November 2014. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  26. "rik Horrie crowned Para-rower of the Year at the Hancock Prospecting 2018 Rower of the Year Awards". Rowing Australia website. 3 November 2018. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
  27. "Medal (OAM) of the Order of Australia in the General Division (F-L)" (PDF). Govetnor-General of Australia website. 26 January 2020. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  28. "Tokyo 2020 Medallists Shine Bright at Hancock Prospecting Rower of the Year Awards". Rowing Australia. 12 March 2022. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  29. "Successes From Across the Sport Celebrated at the 2022 Hancock Prospecting Rower of the Year Awards". Rowing Austrralia. 4 December 2022. Retrieved 5 December 2022.

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