Amy Clay (born 14 December 1977) is an American born, Australian representative rower. She was selected to represent Australia at the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2012 Summer Olympics in rowing.

Personal

Nicknamed Ames, Clay was born on 14 December 1977 in the United States. She spent twelve years involved with gymnastics. She completed her early schooling in

Myrtle Beach, South Carolina Myrtle Beach is a resort city on the east coast of the United States in Horry County, South Carolina, Horry County, South Carolina. It is located in the center of a long and continuous stretch of beach known as Grand Strand, "The Grand Strand" i ...

, and attended

Lewis & Clark College Lewis & Clark College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Portland, Oregon. Originally chartered in 1867 as the Albany Collegiate Institute in Albany, Oregon, the college was relocate ...

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populou ...

, where she earned a Bachelor of English in 2001. Within two years of finishing her degree, she moved to Australia. , she lives in Sydney. Clay is tall and weighs .

Rowing

Clay is a rower competing in single, double and quadruple scull events. She started rowing in 1997 while living in Portland, Oregon while a freshman at Lewis & Clark College. As a member of the university team, she was coached by

Hilary Gehman Hilary Gehman (born August 15, 1971 in Shirley, Massachusetts) is an American rower. She competed in women's quadruple sculls at the 2000 Summer Olympics and the 2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολ ...

. She is a member of the

Mosman Rowing Club Mosman Rowing Club is an all-level competitive and recreational rowing club on the North Shore of Sydney. Since 2007 the club's facilities have been wholly located at The Spit in Sydney's Middle Harbour, the northern arm of Port Jackson. Merca ...

, having joined the club in 2003. After her move to Australia she was coached by

Nick Garratt Nicholas Richard Garratt (6 December 1947 – 8 July 2019) was an Australian rowing coach. He was the head coach of Rowing ACT, coaching the ACT High Performance Program along with the ACT Academy of Sport Rowing Program, in Canberra, Austra ...

. In 2011, Clay was named the NSW Oarswoman of the Year. That year, she did not have a scholarship with the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of th ...

in rowing and had to work rowing into a schedule involving working full-time. She finished 4th in the quad event at the 2011 World Championships in

Bled Bled (; german: Veldes,''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 146. in older sources also ''Feldes'') is a town on Lake Bled in the Upper ...

, Slovenia. She finished 5th in the quad event at the 2011 World Cup #3 in

Lucerne Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label= Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a city in central Switzerland, in the German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital o ...

, Switzerland. She finished 6th in the single event at the 2011 Australian Rowing Championships in

West Lakes, South Australia West Lakes is a suburb of Adelaide, the state capital of South Australia, Australia. It lies within the City of Charles Sturt. It contains the Westfield West Lakes Shopping Centre, Woodlake Shopping Centre and West Lakes Golf Club. It also cont ...

. She finished 5th in the double event at the 2011 Australian Rowing Championships in West Lakes, South Australia. She finished 2nd in the quad event at the 2011 Australian Rowing Championships in West Lakes, South Australia. Clay finished 5th in the quad event at the 2012 World Cup 3 in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

, Germany. She finished 6th in the quad event at the 2012 World Cup 2 in Lucerne, Switzerland. She was selected to represent Australia at the 2012 Summer Olympics in rowing in the quadruple scull. Initially listed as a reserve, she replaced

Pippa Savage Philippa "Pippa" Savage (born 15 March 1981 in Moree, New South Wales, Australia) is an Australian rower Rowing, sometimes called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that r ...

who had been previously named to the boat but was removed because of "incompatibility issues" with the rest of the crew. Prior to going to London, she participated in a training camp at the Australian Institute of Sport European Training Centre in

Varese Varese ( , , or ; lmo, label=Varesino, Varés ; la, Baretium; archaic german: Väris) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 has reached 80,559. It is the c ...

, Italy. The Australian quadruple sculls team finished in 4th place.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Clay, Amy Living people 1977 births American expatriate sportspeople in Australia Australian female rowers Lewis & Clark College alumni Olympic rowers of Australia Rowers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2012 Summer Olympics 21st-century Australian women