WAIS Talent Search | The Constant Drive to be Better – Amber Webster
There are few WA athletes better equipped to comment on what it takes to achieve at the highest level than Amber Webster.
As one of only two female rowers to have won an Olympic medal from WA, she is an icon of the sport in this state.
Amber Webster (nee Bradley) competed twice at Olympic level (Athens 2004, Beijing 2008) and was a senior world champion in both scull and sweep boats across a decorated career.
Born in the Pilbara, just east of Karratha, Webster developed a love for rowing during her school days at Penrhos College.
The College is renowned for its rowing pedigree and it wasn’t long before a teenage star had emerged.
“I started rowing in year 9 at high school as rowing was one of the sports offered at my school,” Webster said. “A year later, one of the school coaches noticed my talent and introduced me to one of the WAIS coaches who took me under his wing.”
Having shown considerable promise at national competition level, Webster was soon impressing internationally too and even dared to dream of the sport’s ultimate pinnacle.
“After winning the Junior World Champs at the age of 17, I started to believe that being an Olympian was a real possibility,” she said.
Webster was famed through WA rowing circles for her incredible work rate and discipline. Her attitude towards qualifying for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games typified that approach.
“I really just focused on one competition at a time so that by the time the Olympic trials did come around, it wasn’t something to be overwhelmed or nervous about, but just another opportunity to see how fast I could row.”
What isn’t as apparent in that response, is that she now stands as one of only 35 Western Australians to have ever represented Australia at rowing at an Olympic Games.
In addition, she keeps even rarer company as one of only nine athletes to have won an Olympic medal in the sport from this state.
That success came in Athens on her Olympic debut, where the Australian women’s quad scull crew were fourth over the line, but were later awarded bronze after a member of the third-placed Ukrainian crew failed a drug test.
With the Western Australian Institute of Sport holding a talent search day in September to help sift for further potential stars like Webster, the now personal trainer and mother of two young children gave some frank advice to would-be athletes.
“Successful athletes have the passion and drive to be constantly trying to better themselves,” she said from lived experience.
“Not many people win an Olympic gold medal. So, if that’s your goal, you have to tick all the boxes and be mature way beyond your years.
If you want to see if you have what it takes to be an elite athlete, register for the WAIS Talent Search Day on Sunday, September 29.
Further details and registrations are available here.