| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | (1983-02-09)9 February 1983 (age 42)[1] Dunedin, New Zealand | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 182 cm (6 ft 0 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 81 kg (179 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Fiona Paterson (born 9 February 1983) is a New Zealandrower.
Paterson was born inDunedin in 1983, and grew up in theIda Valley as the second youngest of seven siblings.[2][3] She first competed atWorld Rowing Junior Championships in 2000 inZagreb, Croatia, where she came eighth with the junior women's eight.[4] At theWorld Rowing Junior Championships 2001 inDuisburg, Germany, she came sixth with the junior women's eight.[5] At the 2003 World Rowing U23 Regatta inBelgrade, Serbia, she came fourth with the U23 women's four with fellow members Bess Halley, Darnelle Timbs and Andrea Rix-Trott.[6] She became world champion at the U23 World Rowing Championship inPoznań, Poland, in 2004 with the U23 women's quadruple sculls with fellow members Bess Halley, Darnelle Timbs andJaime Nielsen.[7]
In January 2006 at age 22,[3] she was diagnosed with an aggressive form ofcervical cancer, was operated on and underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatment.[2] Only a year later, she returned to rowing and was part of the women's eight that unsuccessfully tried to qualify for the2008 Summer Olympics; at the2007 World Rowing Championships inMunich, Germany, they came ninth,[8] and at both the first twoWorld Rowing Cup regattas in 2008, the team came eighth.[9][10]
In World Rowing Cup regattas in 2010, she competed in women's quadruple sculls withEmma Feathery,Paula Twining, andLouise Trappitt, and they came sixth inMunich, Germany, and inLucerne, Switzerland.[11][12] At the2010 World Rowing Championships atLake Karapiro, New Zealand, she rowed in the women's double sculls with Feathery and placed seventh.[13] At the2011 World Rowing Championships inBled, Slovenia, she teamed up withAnna Reymer in the women's double sculls and won bronze.[14]
She competed indouble sculls with Reymer at the2012 Summer Olympics in London, where they placed fifth.[15] Paterson retired after the 2012 Summer Olympics and moved toChristchurch, where she worked as a rowing coach and physical education teacher atRangi Ruru Girls' School while completing a post-graduate teaching diploma at the city'sNew Zealand Graduate School of Education.[16] In 2015, Paterson made a comeback and was selected byRowing New Zealand to be part of the 57-strong training squad from which the nine boat teams will be chosen.[17] At the New Zealand national championships atLake Karapiro on 16 February 2016, Paterson competed withRebecca Scown in the women's coxless pair, and they were beaten byEmma Dyke andGrace Prendergast for second place.[18] When the Olympic rowing team was announced on 4 March 2016, Scown andGenevieve Behrent were chosen instead of Paterson;[19] they would win bronze in their event.[20]
