Bronwen Watson

Personal

Watson was born in Milton, New South Wales. Her father David is an Olympian, who competed at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics in road cycling. She attended Heathcote High School. As of 2012, she lives in Sydney where she works as an executive assistant at the University of Sydney.

Rowing

Watson competed in the lightweight category and had most success in Double and Quad sculls. She was coached by Phil Bourguignon, and rowed from the Sydney University Boat Club. She held a rowing scholarship with the New South Wales Institute of Sport.

At the 2003 World Rowing Championships in Milan, Watson won a bronze medal in the women's lightweight quad scull. She had to compete to earn her spot in the Australian quad crew for the 2003 World Championships, with five women trying to earn four spots. Following the competition, she retired from rowing for the first time.

Watson came out of retirement in 2005 to be a social rower in England, and to compete the 2005 Women's and Royal Henley. Following this, she moved back to Australia and took a position as a girls high school rowing coach. At the 2007 World Rowing Championships in Munich, she won a gold medal in the women's lightweight quad scull.

At the 2008 World Rowing Championships in Linz/Ottensheim, Austria she won her second world title and gold medal in the women's lightweight quad scull. In 2009, she competed at for the third time at World Championships this time in the women's lightweight double scull with partner Alice McNamara. Her boat qualified for the finals, finishing third in the semi-finals. She competed in the 2010 Australian National Rowing Championships. In April 2010, she announced her retirement from the sport. She came out of retirement in September 2010 to compete in the New Zealand hosted Great Race, where she rowed for Sydney University in the Bryan Gould Cup. She continued rowing with a goal of making the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Going into 2012, Watson and her teammates set up a training regime that dealt with issues such as weight so that ideal conditions would be met earlier and be less of a concern closer to the event. Watson finished 7th in the lightweight double event at the 2012 World Cup 3 in Munich, Germany and 9th in the lightweight double event at the 2012 World Cup 2 in Lucerne, Switzerland. As a member of the eights crew in the 2000m course, she helped set a time of 6:12.36 which qualified her and the rest of the team for the Olympics. She was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Olympics rowing in the lightweight women's 2X with her partner Hannah Every-Hall from Victoria. Prior to going to London, she participated in a training camp at the Australian Institute of Sport European Training Centre in Varese, Italy after having taken part in another team training camp in Sydney. Watson and Every-Hall qualified through to the Olympic final finishing fifth.