Jacqui Lawrence lives near Grafton and attended Bonalbo Central School.  After the semi-finals of the Canoe/Kayak – Slalom – K1 Jacqui Lawrence qualified fourth to be in the race for the medals.  At 5.55pm on Friday evening Sydney time Jacqui was the first competitor to race.  It was exciting and thrilling to watch as Jacqui paddled and tracked beautifully through the course to come away with no penalties and a final score of 206.94.

The next competitor, a Czech and two-time Olympian capsized so Jacqui went into bronze medal position.  The tension mounted as the French competitor missed a gate and incurred massive time penalties.  Jacqui Lawrence moved up into second place.  The final competitor from Slovakia a world champion also completed the course without incident.  Semi final times are also taken into account and with better times she went on to win the gold medal.

It was wonderful to see the thrill and emotion from Jacqui Lawrence, a very proud Australian as she stood on the dais to receive her silver medal.

Jacqui is one of three sisters who have spent much of their time training on the dam their father built allegedly to provide water for the property and the cows.  The three girls trained here and on the Clarence River.  Jacqui knocked her sister Kate out of the position on the team for the Olympics.  All three girls have competed for their school and region in the NSWCHS championships.  All three are outstanding paddlers and all are recipients of NSWCHS blues for Canoeing.  The CHS Blues were awarded to Jacqui Lawrence 1999, Kate Lawrence 2001 and Rosalyn Lawrence 2005.

NSWCHS congratulates Jacqui Lawrence on a tremendous achievement.