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An Interview with Amber Anning

8 October 2024

Read the highlights from a conversation between Olympian Amber Anning and two of our Year 11 students.

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During her visit to Roedean, Amber Anning was interviewed by Gabby and Megs from Year 11. Here are some highlights from their conversation:


‘What inspired me? My family’s Jamaican, so I grew up watching Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Usain Bolt winning and running in the Olympics.’


‘It is just all about enjoyment and giving yourself the best opportunity to excel in whatever you want to do, and I think, just at a young age, you just need to do everything, don’t limit yourself, don’t put yourself doing one sport, do a variety of different things, try new stuff and just be really open-minded.’


‘I think the big thing for me with Roedean is they helped facilitate my training. So, I trained in London, so I had to leave early from class or like from any sports stuff I did, and they’d allow me to leave and then go up and train there.’


‘For me, Roedean always celebrated my achievements, they always made sure I was good in my training but they were able to support me academically as well, and know that sometimes I’d have to juggle both.’


‘As much as it’s hard and I don’t enjoy it too much (maybe the training), it was just something that I was really good at and it’s kind of taken me all over the place.’


‘I’m so grateful to say that “I’m the fastest ever,” because not many can say that and it’s a great feeling… and a lot of girls have been amazing 400 metre runners in the past, so I’m very grateful for where I’m at.’


‘I think with sports, an injury is inevitable and it’s more the mental side, being strong and determined to keep going regardless of what we’re going through.’


‘My parents, to be honest, always pushed doing well on the track and in the classroom. So I work as hard as I do on and off the track. But it’s just really prioritising, being disciplined.’


To find out more about Ambers return to Roedean, read our article “Amber Returns to Roedean with her Olympic Bronze Medals”