Rowie Webster

Fast Facts

Sport: Water Polo 
Event: Women
Olympic History: London 2012 (bronze), Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020
Year Born: 1987 
Born: Melbourne, VIC

About Rowie

Known as one of the toughest defenders in water polo, Rowie Webster made her second Olympic appearance in Rio, after helping Australia win bronze against Hungary at the London 2012 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), World Cup silver (2014), 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 a 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 heart-breaking 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 led the team at her third Olympic appearance in Tokyo 2020.

Australia would enjoy an impressive group-stage of the Games, boasting a record of 3-1. Their only loss coming to eventual silver medallists Spain 15-9, in which Webster scored both of Australia's goals. Finishing their group with an overall second placing, this set up a quarter-final tie with the ROC. 

This would play out in a tense match, the ROC just edging out the Aussies 9-8, eliminating the squad from medal contention. Australia would end their tournament on a positive note, defeating both Canada and the Netherlands to secure a 5th overall placing at the Games.

In retirement Rowie has stayed connected to Water Polo and the Olympic movement. She has remained active coaching, participating in community programs, hosted the Paris 2024 Australian Olympic Team podcast and in September 2024 was re-elected to the Australian Olympic Committee's Athletes' Commission.