Rowena Meredith is a NSW Institute of Sport (NSWIS) graduate athlete, a member of the Australian Women’s Rowing Team, and will make her Olympic debut at the Tokyo 2020 Games in the women’s quadruple sculls.
Born in England, Rowena was raised on Sydney’s North Shore and first took up rowing in 2008. Her senior club rowing career has been Mosman Rowing club and more recently with Sydney University Boat Club.
The young rower made her Australian representative debut at the 2015 U23 World Rowing Championships claiming a silver medal with the women’s quadruple sculls crew, before joining the Hancock Prospecting Women’s National Training Centre in 2016.
2017 was a breakout year for Rowena. She was selected in the Australian Senior Quadruple Sculls crew with fellow NSWIS athletes Leah Saunders and Genevieve Horton. The crew went on to take silver and then bronze at the 2017 World Rowing Cups II and III. Rowena also raced in the quadruple sculls crew at the 2017 U23 World Rowing Championships who finished second. Competing at her first World Rowing Championships in 2017, Rowena and the young Quadruple Sculls crew made the finals where they finished in sixth place.
Rowena added two more World Cup bronze medals to her tally across 2018 and 2019 in the Quadruple Sculls. In 2019, Meredith was selected into the Quadruple Scull crew for the 2019 World Rowing Championships. The crew needed an eighth-placed finish to qualify their boat for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics but were unsuccessful – finishing fourth in the B Final.
With the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics, the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta took place in May 2021. Selected again in the quadruple sculls, along with fellow NSWIS athlete Harriet Hudson, the team needed a top-two finish in their final qualification attempt. The crew was victorious in their heat and in the final securing Australia a berth in Tokyo. Rowena was officially announced on the Australian Team in June 2021.