Amber Jae Halliday (born 13 November 1979) is a former

rower Rowing, often called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars (called blades in the United Kingdom) are attached to the boat using rowlocks, while paddles are ...

and cyclist from

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

. She is an Australian national champion, a dual Olympian and a three-time world-champion in

lightweight rowing Lightweight rowing (abbreviated Lwt or Lt) is a category of Rowing (sport), rowing where limits are placed on the maximum body weight of competitors. According to the International Rowing Federation (International Rowing Federation, FISA), this we ...

. She rowed for South Australia on nine occasions for six victories in Interstate Regattas and won numerous Australian titles at the

Australian National Championships Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

Rowing career

A lightweight sculler, Halliday commenced her rowing at Pembroke School in Adelaide. Her senior club rowing was from the

Adelaide University Boat Club The Adelaide University Boat Club is a rowing club affiliated with the University of Adelaide. The club was founded in 1881, and in 1896 helped to form the Adelaide University Sports Association. The main clubrooms, donated by Robert Barr Smith ...

. Halliday raced in South Australian representative women's crews who contested the Victoria Cup at the Interstate Regatta. In 1998 that race was in lightweight

coxless four A coxless four, abbreviated as a 4- and also called a straight four, is a racing shell used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four persons who propel the boat with sweep oars, without a coxswain. The crew consists of four ...

and Halliday stroke the IV. From 1999 the lightweight women's interstate race was contested in quad sculls. Halliday raced for South Australia in quads successively from 1999 to 2004 and in 2006, 2007 and 2008. Those South Australian crews were victorious in 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008 and she was in the stroke seat for their convincing victories (margins in excess of 7 seconds) of 2003, 2004, 2007

International representative rowing career

World Championships

Halliday made her international representative debut for Australia in 1999, winning the u/23 World Championship in Hamburg in the lightweight double scull with Hannah Every.Halliday at World Rowing
/ref> Halliday made her first Australian senior representative appearance at the 2000 World Rowing Cup III in Lucerne, Switzerland. The next month that same crew contested the lightweight

quad scull A quadruple sculling boat, often simply called a quad and abbreviated as a 4x, is a racing shell used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four people who propel the boat by sculling with two oars, or "sculls", one in each h ...

at the

2000 World Rowing Championships The 2000 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 1 to 6 August 2000 in conjunction with the World Junior Rowing Championships in Zagreb, Croatia. Since 2000 was an Olympic year for rowing, the World Champi ...

in Zagreb, and Halliday won a silver medal crewed with Sally Causby, Eliza Blair and Catriona Roach The following year at Lucerne 2001 that crew with Blair changed out for Josephine Lips won the gold medal, the lightweight quad scull world championship title and set two world records in the process. In 2002 Halliday was teamed with Causby in a double scull, and won her second World Championship title at Seville 2002. They stayed together for Milan 2003 and won the silver medal in the double scull. At the

2006 World Rowing Championships The 2006 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 20 to 27 August 2006 at Dorney Lake, Dorney, Great Britain. Medal summary Men Non-Olympic classes Women Non-Olympic classes Pararowing The Pararowi ...

in Eton, Dorney in the lightweight double-scull with Marguerite Houston, Halliday won the silver medal. The following year at Munich 2007 and still together in the double, Halliday and Houston won the gold and Amber's third world championship.

Olympics

Halliday was selected for and competed at the

2004 Olympic Games The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

with double sculls partner

Sally Newmarch Sally Newmarch (born 2 June 1975), now known as Sally Callie, is an Australian former rower – a four-time national champion, a medal winning national representative who competed at World Rowing Championships from 1993 to 2004 and a three time ...

. They set a world-best time in their heat but placed fourth in the final. She was named South Australia's Sports Star of 2007 and then pre-selected with Marguerite Houston for the

2008 Beijing Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

in a double-scull. They placed eighth in a "disappointing" performance.

Cycling

In late 2008 Halliday swapped her sculling shell for a bicycle, training with the South Australian Sports Institute squad. While riding for MB Cycles, Halliday won her first ever cycle tour, the NZCT

Women's Tour of New Zealand The Women's Tour of New Zealand is a stage race A race stage, leg, or heat is a unit of a racing, race that has been divided in several parts for the reason such as length of the distance to be covered, as in a multi-day race, multi-day event. ...

in February 2009. She was named as the 2009 Amy Gillett Foundation Scholarship winner. On 17 January 2011 Amber was hospitalised after a racing accident sustained at Victoria Park Racecourse, Adelaide. In September 2011 her recovery was documented by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) program, ''Contact Sport''.

Cycling palmares

;2009 : 4th National Time Trial Championships, AUS : 1st Sprint Classification, National Road Race, AUS : 1st Overall

, NZL : 6th Chongming Island Time Trial (1.1 UCI), CHN : 2nd Women's Time Trial Honda Hybrid Tour (formerly Herald Sun Women's Tour), AUS : 2nd Overall Honda Hybrid Tour (formerly Herald Sun Women's Tour), AUS : 25th Giro Donne, ITA : 1st Woman Annual Hell of the Marianas Century Cycle, FSM ;2010 : 1st MaillotAustralia

National Time Trial Champion Title : 9th National Road Race

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Halliday, Amber 1979 births Living people Australian female rowers Olympic rowers for Australia Rowers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2008 Summer Olympics People educated at Pembroke School, Adelaide Cyclists from Adelaide Rowers from Adelaide University of Adelaide alumni World Rowing Championships medalists for Australia Australian female cyclists Sportswomen from South Australia 21st-century Australian sportswomen