Inductee - Anna Wood

Anna Wood

Anna Wood

Canoeing

Dual international Anna Wood is a Dutch-born Australian sprint canoeist who competed in four Olympic Games between 1988 and 2000.

A member of the Dutch kayak team from 1983 to 1989 over distances from 500m to 5000m, it was paddling for the Netherlands as Annemarie Cox that the 1984 Open European Junior Champion won bronze in the K-2 500m at the Seoul 1988 Olympic Games.

After meeting her late husband Steve Wood - an Olympic bronze medallist in the men's K-4 in Barcelona in 1992 - a move to Australia soon followed and, representing her adopted country, Anna again took K-2 500m bronze at the Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games.

At those Games the four-time Olympic finalist was joined in the boat by fellow Gold Coaster and Gold Coast Sporting Hall of Fame inductee, German-born Katrin Borchert. Together they are universally regarded as the most exciting Australian representative tandem combination of the 1990's.

Following Atlanta, Wood and Borchert continued to be the most accomplished women's pair on the international circuit, winning world titles at both 500m and 1000m before their winning streak at major events ended in Sydney 2000, where they placed sixth in the K-2 500m.

Anna was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder from 1990 to 1994 and the winner of an amazing 31 national titles.

She took eight World Championship medals from the 11 International Canoe Federation World Championships she competed in, including three gold from the 1998 event in Szeged Hungary and the 1999 edition in Milan, Italy.

She also won four silver (K-1 5000m 1991, K-2 500m 1987,1997; K-2 1000m 1997) and a bronze (K-2 500m 1985).

Anna continues to paddle and mentor aspiring athletes on the placid waters of the Gold Coast.

Inductees