UVic Sports Hall of Fame
CATEGORY: Athlete
Kirsten Barnes began rowing in high school where she quickly excelled onto the varsity scene. Barnes was a three-time UVic Athlete of the Year (1989-91). After taking time off to compete for Canada, Barnes returned to UVic to complete her studies and graduate in 1993.
At the age of 20, Barnes competed in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Korea in the women’s coxless pairs, where she placed seventh. As a key member of the coxless four and heavyweight eight teams, Barnes was a double gold medalist at the 1992 Summer Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain.
Prior to the 1988 Olympic games, Barnes competed in the 1987 Pan American Games where she won gold in the coxless four. In 1991 she competed at the World Rowing Championships and helped guide the women’s Canadian coxless four and eight to another two gold medals.
Kirsten has enjoyed equal success off the water, obtaining a PhD in sport psychology at the University of Bristol, England. She has worked with and support countless athletes in various sports, sport clubs and the 2000 British Association Holding Camp.
Barnes spent 13 years in England working for the English Institute of Sport, where her work as a sports psychologist has assisted the British team in the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, the British squash team, and the women’s English rugby team.
In 2001, Kristen Barnes received UVic’s Distinguished Alumni Award recognizing exceptional accomplishments at the local, regional, national or global level. Prior to these accomplishments, Barnes was inducted into the BC Sport Hall of Fame, the Greater Victoria Sport Hall of the Fame and the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame all in 1994.
UVic Success
- UVic Athlete of the Year: 1989, 1990, 1991
- UVic's Distinguished Alumni Award
International Success
- 1987 Pan American Games: coxless four: GOLD
- 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics: coxless pair 7th
- 1991 World Rowing Championships: coxless four: GOLD; coxed eight: GOLD
- 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics: coxless four GOLD; coxed eight: GOLD
Hall of Fames
- Inducted into the BC Sport Hall of Fame in 1994
- Inducted into the Great Victoria Hall of Fame in 1994
- Inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in 1994
