Louise Bawden

Louise Bawden
Bawden in 2016
Personal information
Nationality Australia
Born (1981-08-07) 7 August 1981 (age 43)
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Height183 cm (6 ft 0 in) (2012)
Weight72 kg (159 lb) (2012)
Beach volleyball information
Years Teammate
2013–2017 Taliqua Clancy
Honours
Women's beach volleyball
Representing  Australia
FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour
Bronze medal – third place 2015 Porec Major
Asian Beach Volleyball Championships
Gold medal – first place 2017 Songkhla
Gold medal – first place 2015 Hong Kong
Gold medal – first place 2014 Jinjiang

Louise Bawden (born 7 August 1981)[1] is an Australian volleyball and beach volleyball player. She represented Australia at the 2000 Summer Olympics in indoor volleyball, finishing in 9th.[2] She was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Olympics in beach volleyball, but she and team-mate Becchara Palmer did not qualify from the pool stage.[2]

Personal

Bawden was born in Melbourne, Victoria and attended Fintona Girls' School.[3][4] She spent her childhood in Melbourne,[3][4] moving to Canberra when she was sixteen.[3] She then moved to the Netherlands after the Sydney Olympics, returning to Australia in 2003.[3] In 2008, she completed a degree at a university in Queensland.[4] She attended the 2008 Summer Olympics as a fan.[4] As of 2012, she lives in Adelaide.[3][5]

Bawden is 183 centimetres (6 ft 0 in) tall and weighs 72 kilograms (159 lb).[3]

Indoor volleyball

Bawden earned a volleyball scholarship at the Australian Institute of Sport when she was sixteen years old.[3] As a nineteen-year-old, she represented Australia at the 2000 Summer Olympics in indoor volleyball, where her team finished ninth.[3][4] Following the Sydney Games, she played professional volleyball in the Netherlands until 2003.[3] In 2002, she competed in the World Championships.[3]

Beach volleyball

Bawden is a beach volleyball player.[3] Following the 2008 Summer Olympics, she approached the Adelaide-based Australian beach volley programme about the possibility of getting into the sport.[4] Following this, in 2009, she became involved with Australia's National Beach Volleyball Program, making a switch from indoor to beach and was initially teamed up with Becchara Palmer.[3][5] That year, she shared the world beach volleyball association top rookie award with Angie Akers, an American.[3]

At the 2009 Mazury Open in Stare Jablonki, Poland, Bawden and partner Palmer finished second. The competition was part of the FIVB World Tour.[3][6] She and Palmer twice won the Australian Championships, once in 2010 and again in 2011.[6]

In 2011, Palmer and Bawden were Australia's number one ranked team,[3] and the duo finished ninth at the 2011 World Championships.[5] With her partner Palmer, she finished seventeenth at the 2011 FIVB Moscow World Tour in Moscow, Russia.[3] With her partner, she finished fourth at the 2011 FIVB Phuket World Tour in Phuket, Thailand.[3]

In 2012, Bawden and Palmer played in 31 matches, winning 20 of them. This increased their world ranking to 16.[3] With her partner, she finished ninth at the 2012 FIVB Brasília World Tour in Brasília, Brazil.[3] With her partner, she finished fifth at the 2012 FIVB Sanya World Tour in Sanya, China.[3] With her partner, she finished seventeenth at the 2012 FIVB Shanghai World Tour in Shanghai, China.[3] With her partner, she finished ninth at the 2012 FIVB Beijing World Tour in Beijing, China.[3] With her partner, she finished ninth at the 2012 FIVB Rome World Tour in Rome, Italy,[3][5][7] which secured her Olympic berth.[5][7] With her partner, she finished fifth at the 2012 FIVB Moscow World Tour in Moscow, Russia.[3]

Bawden was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Olympics in beach volleyball,[3][5][7] in June 2012 following a selection process that was 18 months long and involved becoming one of the sixteen top ranked teams in the world.[4][5] Going into the Olympics, her team was ranked fourteenth in the world, but did not qualify from the pool stages.[2][5][7]

She participated in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio with partner Taliqua Clancy, and made it to the Quarter-finals.[8][9]

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Louise Bawden.
  1. ^ "Louise Bawden profile". Beach Volleyball Database. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
  2. ^ a b c "Louise Bawden at sports-reference.com". sports-reference.com. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y "London 2012 – Louise Bawden". Australia: Australian Olympic Committee. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Colman, Mike (30 June 2012). "Beach volleyballer Louise Bawden's 12-year gap between her first Olympic Games in Sydney and London 2012". News.com.au. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Bednall, Jai (16 June 2012). "Beach volleyballers Becchara and Louise Bawden qualify for London Olympics". The Advertiser. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  6. ^ a b "London 2012 – Becchara Palmer". Australia: Australian Olympic Committee. Retrieved 10 July 2012.
  7. ^ a b c d "Palmer, Bawden book Games spot". Wwos.ninemsn.com.au. Archived from the original on 12 February 2015. Retrieved 11 July 2012.
  8. ^ Beach volleyball at the 2016 Summer Olympics – Women's tournament
  9. ^ "Louise Grice". Australian Olympic Committee. Retrieved 13 June 2021.
Awards
Preceded by Women's FIVB World Tour "Top Rookie"
alongside United States Angie Akers
2009 		Succeeded by