Sarah's Story
Fast Facts
Sport: Rowing
Event: Women’s Sweep Squad
Olympic History: Tokyo 2020
Coach: Tom Westgarth and John Keogh (Head Coach)
Highlights: Winning gold medals at the 2017 and 2019 World Rowing Championships
Year Born: 1987
Born: Bentleigh East, VIC
About Sarah
Sarah Hawe first represented Australia at the 2005 Junior World Championships, finishing fifth overall in the Women’s Double Scull. Hawe first earned selection for the Senior Australian Rowing Team at age 29, precipitating the Melbourne native’s Penrith relocation to join Rowing Australia’s National Training Centre.
Once under the professional tutelage of John Keogh, Tom Westgarth and Ellen Randell, Hawe found considerable success.
2017 saw gold in World Rowing Cups 2 and 3 and the World Rowing Championships, all in a Women’s Four crew that did not lose a race all season. The consistency and prosperity of performances saw Hawe, alongside crewmates Molly Goodman, Lucy Stephan and Katrina Werry, earn the 2017 Female Australian Crew of the Year award.
Continued success followed Hawe into the 2018 and 2019 seasons, with multiple World Cup and World Championships medals headlining a fruitful period for the Victorian.
Hawe's Olympic dream was realised in 2021 when she was named to the Australian Women's Eight for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
She and her crewmates earned their start in the race for gold having endured a tough repechage in which they finished fourth. Earlier, the crew finished their heat in third place.
The crew looked to finish their Games regatta on a high and started fast in the Final setting a strong pace and rhythm to keep up with the Canadian boat who took an early lead. Placed second after the first 500-metres and only 0.66 seconds off the pace, the Australians fought hard to hold their position, but the opposition were too strong and after fading in the second half of the race, the Australians finished fifth overall. The result equalled the best ever result by an Australian crew in this boat class at an Olympic Games.
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