Whoever said winning isn't everything, obviously didn't win
Personal Details
- Nickname:
Casper
- Home town:
North Balwyn
- Hobbies:
Surfing, friends, going to the beach with mates
- Occupation / Area of Study / Work:
Physical Education Teacher
- Hero / Most Admired Athlete:
Michael Jordan, Ky Hurst
- Date of birth:
27 December 1987
Sporting Details
- Positions played:
Centre Back
- Olympic / Paralympic History:
2020 Tokyo Olympic Games
2016 Rio Olympic Games
2012 London Olympic Games | Bronze
- World Championships History:
2014 Silver - FINA World Cup
2014 FINA World League Intercontinental Cup Champion
2010 FINA World Cup, Christchurch, New Zealand: Silver
2010 FINA World League Super Finals, La Jolla, USA: Silver
2009 FINA World Championships, Rome, Italy: 6th
2008 FINA World League Super Finals, Kirishi, Russia: Bronze
2007 FINA Junior World Champs, Porto, Portugal: Gold
- Sporting Highlights:
Known as one of the toughest defenders in water polo, Rowena 'Rowie' Webster made her second Olympic appearance in Rio, after helping Australia win bronze against Hungary at the 2012 London Games. Webster proved to be an integral part of the women’s side, scoring a total of nine goals for the Australians.
It’s not hard to choose water polo as your sport, when your three older siblings all play it. Webster is the youngest of 4 siblings. Her three siblings all played water polo when she was younger, which got her involved in the sport. Her sister Larissa also represented Australia in the sport.
It’s also easy to travel the world when your sport is popular in both hemispheres. Rowie played college Water Polo with Arizona State University as an 18-year-old, before she moved to Greece for five months in 2008 to play in the professional league there.
She debuted with the Stingers in 2005 and was a member of the gold-medal-winning Australian team in Portugal at the 2007 FINA World Junior Championships.Webster was part of the 2007 Junior World Championship team that brought home gold from Portugal. When she was 18, she spent a year at Arizona State University playing college water polo before she moved to Greece for five months in 2008 to turn professional.
In 2009 she was in Rome for the FINA World Championships, before World Cup silver (2010), Olympic bronze (2012), more World Cup silver (2014), then World Cup bronze (2018) and World Championships bronze (2019).In 2012 she helped Australia to wins at the Pan Pacific Championships, London Olympic Test Event and to silver at the World League Super finals before making her Olympic debut in London where Australia came home with the bronze in narrow penalty shootout final. In 2013 and 2014 she was a finalist for the FINA Best Water Polo Player of the Year award.
It’s not hard to see how Rowie has racked up 300 Test caps. She is also the only Victorian to ever captain an Australian women’s water polo team - something she is extremely proud of.
At Rio 2016, Rowie and her Stingers teammates kick-started their Olympic campaign with a strong, dominant 14-4 win over Russia. Their second pool match proved to be more of a challenge with the green and gold side narrowly going down to Italy 7-8 despite the scores being tied until the final seconds.
The Aussies then powered home to take a decisive 10-3 win over hosts Brazil in the final pool game, setting up a quarter-final clash against Hungary. In a physical, tense and ultimately heartbreaking encounter the Australians lost in a penalty shootout after scores were level, 8-8, after four quarters, ending their 2016 Olympic campaign.
Webster scored 3 goals against China at the 2016 FINA World Super League Finals in June, securing Australia the 10-3 victory over the host nation to bring home the bronze medal.
She was named Stingers captain in 2017 and will lead the team at her third Olympics at Tokyo 2020.
- Australian Olympic Team
