Sally's Story
Melbourne rower Sally Withers, who competed under her maiden name Sally Harding, represented the YWCA and Melbourne University rowing clubs. A 13-time national champion, she represented Australia at three World Championships and twice finished fifth in the women’s coxed four.
After narrowly missing selection for Montreal 1976, Withers made her Olympic debut at Moscow 1980, aged 27. Rowing in the stroke seat alongside Anne Chirnside, Verna Westwood, Pam Westendorf and coxswain Susie Palfreyman, she helped form Australia’s first women’s Olympic rowing crew. The Australians reached the final and placed fifth in 3 minutes, 26.37 seconds, finishing behind four Eastern European crews. Withers was inducted into the Victorian Rowing Hall of Fame in 2018.
