Stephen's Story
South African born Stephen Bird and Jesse Phillips represented Australia in the K2 200m kayak sprint event at the 2012 London Olympic Games. The West Australian based duo progressed to the A final in London where they finished sixth.
He qualified for his second Games at Rio 2016 in the K1 200m event. He finished second in both his heat and semi-final to storm into the final. In his first ever individual international A-final, Bird placed eighth in the final in 36.426.
At 8 years of age, Bird started paddling in second hand kayaks with his brother on his family’s dams in the small farming village of Richmond, South Africa. He migrated with his family to Perth in 2007.
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