Dream come true as Laura Gourley named in Rowsellas squad for the Paris Olympic Games

Laura Gourley’s dream of competing at the Olympic Games will become a reality in 16 days after the Narrabri girl was named as a member of the Australian Olympic Rowing Team’s quadruple sculls crew for the 2024 Paris Games.

The 22-year-old, who is the daughter of Narrabri’s Ian and Georgina Gourley, is proud to be a part of the 37-strong Aussie team across nine boats to contest the Olympic rowing regatta at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium in Paris.

It was announced this week that the team had adopted a name for the first time in its decorated history – the Rowsellas.

Gourley took a step towards her goal of competing at the Olympics last year when she was a member of the 2023 women’s double scull team and helped Amanda Bateman qualify the boat into the Paris Olympics for their nation. Bateman will be joined by Harriet Hudson in the double sculls in Paris, while Gourley replaces Hudson in the quad sculls team and will compete alongside Ria Thompson, Rowena Meredeth and Caitlin Cronin.

The Narrabri girl told The Courier that it was a dream come true, and she could not wait for day one of the rowing program to begin, which will arrive on Saturday, July 27.

“I was extremely excited, and for a while it didn’t fully sink in,” Gourley said of her inclusion in the team.

“Going to the Olympics has always been my dream, I just didn’t know what sport it would be in.

“I found rowing when I went to boarding school and I really enjoyed it. I love rowing

“Now that it’s sunk in, each day I’m getting more excited and a little bit nervous too.

“Last year’s Olympics qualification was great prep, because it’s the most pressure I’ve ever had on me, but this is the biggest event I will have ever been a part of.”

The Australian teams were named on the final day of June following the 2024 World Rowing World Cup Two in Lucerne, Switzerland, in May, and the World Cup Three in Poznan, Poland, in June.

Gourley’s quad sculls team finished sixth in the final in Lucerne and then earned a bronze medal in Poznan.

She thought they did not reach their full potential in either of those events and is confident that they can medal when they go up against the best in the world in Paris.

“I haven’t done a lot with these girls before because I’m new to the team, but they are all very experienced,” Gourley said.

“They all competed at Tokyo in the quad (where they earned the bronze medal alongside Hudson).

“I don’t think we went as well as we could have at the World Cups. We’ve had an unlucky season with injury and sickness at both regattas, which was a bit unsettling.

“The first regatta had a really good field. The top five boats were there, so it was good to see where we sat. We didn’t have our full crew there due to injuries, so we didn’t go where we thought we would. We had our full crew in Poznan, but a couple of the girls were quite sick. We were happy with the medal, but we think that we could have gone a bit better.

“The first goal for the Olympics is to make the A final, and from there we would like to be pushing for medals. I think we can do that. We have speed to gain once we get fully healthy.”

Gourley and her Aussie teammates have been in Europe since May. Outside of the World Cups in Switzerland and Poland, they have been based in Varese, Northern Italy, at the Australian Institute of Sport’s European Training Centre.

The Rowsellas will depart Italy for Paris on Sunday, July 21, and rowing begins on Saturday, July 27 and runs through to Saturday, August 3. The women’s quad sculls A final will be held on Wednesday, July 31.

Gourley said she was also looking forward to keeping a close eye on the women’s rugby sevens, and she was keen to watch fellow Narrabri Olympian Shannan Davey in the boxing.