Amber Anning, who left Roedean seven years ago, came back to School this week to inspire the next generation.  It was such a pleasure to see her, a shining example of a young woman who had a dream and has worked incredibly hard to make it come true – and her prize was not one, but two Olympic Bronze medals!

Amber’s name is all over the Honours’ Boards in Centenary Hall and in our Sports Day records’ book, so it was already obvious seven years ago that she was going to excel.  But her success is the result of a huge amount of hard work, determination, resilience, and sacrifice.  As she showed the audience of 250 students clips from her races in Paris, she also talked about how hard it had been to move her life to America to focus on her sport, to miss Christmas with her family, and to deal with failure.  However, she was keen to stress that her Mum always told her that she had to succeed academically too –Amber started studying at Louisana State University in 2019, and it was about this time that she took part in the Olympic trials for the Tokyo Games.  She got to the Final in the trials, but came last, and was not selected.  She told the audience how this knock had been hard to take, but also how, when she bounced back, she was even more hungry for success.

As a result, Amber changed university and became even more focused on her running.  As the Paris Olympics approached, she enjoyed more and more success, including breaking the 25-year-old British record over 200 metres, and also breaking the notorious 50-second barrier for the 400 metres!  She won the British trials in Manchester to secure her spot in Paris.  And this was the start of a hugely exciting Olympic Games.  Having already won a brilliant Bronze in the 4 x 400 Mixed Relay, Amber was one of 48 athletes in the 400 metres, the best runners in the world, and she eased through the rounds and qualified for the Final with confident runs.  The Final was incredibly exciting, and at moments on the home straight it looked as if she might get a medal – in the end, she was fourth, just outside the podium places.  Amber admitted being disappointed, but then reminded herself that her result was the fourth best in the whole world, and in a race in which every athlete ran under 50 seconds.  In true style, she bounced back to win another Bronze medal in the women’s 4 x 400 relay, an event in which Team GB has such strength in depth.  The students gasped when she brought out one of her medals, and some even had a chance to hold them – how extraordinary, to win two Bronze medals at your debut Olympics!

Amber’s talk was genuinely inspirational, and all the more so because she repeatedly referred back to the fact that her success is the product of a collective effort – the journey she spoke about began when she was at primary school in Australia, and she was keen to acknowledge her family’s support throughout, her time at School and at university, and also the Groundsman at Wish Park in Hove, who marked out a track for her so she could train during Covid.  She was mobbed by autograph-hunters after her talk ended, and even signed someone’s shoe!  It was a fantastic and inspiring talk, and we are very grateful that Amber was able to return to Roedean to share her story with us – no doubt, we will all be glued to our screens when the Olympics are in Los Angeles in 2028!