From almost a boat length behind the Americans, Australia kept stepping up the pace, gaining seat by seat. From the 1000 m mark, the pace increased again, and spectators saw the Americans fade while the Australian women kept the power on until they won the race. There was a 1.5 second sec gap to the second placed Romanians, and .15 seconds between second and the fourth-placed Americans.

Sonia was in 3 seat, and confident in the ability of her crew. ‘If your eight has rhythm, it’s like having a ninth rower,’ she says. But she was a bit worried about her gate, because in a recent race the pin had come out, and she had to throw the oar away, and just sit while her crew finished the race.

Sonia only took up rowing in 2001. She was very fit from being a runner in high school. She was so strong on the ergometer in the gym that her friends encouraged her to take up rowing, and she did at the age of 21.

In her first race she struggled along in the wash of the umpire’s boat, but a Noosa club coach could see her determination, and took her on. In 2002, he encouraged her to set goals - the Queensland state team by 2003, and the Australian team by 2005. In fact, she made the Australian team by 2004, and in 2005 she became a world champion. As her coach knew, setting goals is a key part of success - even if they didn’t seem realistic to her at the time.

Sonia attributes her success to a hard work ethic. She puts an emphasis on learning good technique, and she has learned to deal with pain. “Nothing’s ever handed to you - you’ve got to make it happen,’ she says. That meant getting up to train at 4.30am and, at times, wading through the mud of the tidal Mary River in Queensland to reach dry land.

Sonia moved to Canberra when she took up a position as a political media adviser at Parliament House. She would usually be the first at the Canberra Rowing Club shed on training days. She was awarded an ACTAS scholarship when she showed she could beat current scholarship holders. She loves rowing in Canberra. ‘It’s a great rowing community,’ she says. ‘It’s an unbeatable opportunity to row on the best lake in the country. Why wouldn’t you?’

Sonia prefers single sculls and is now focused on achieving her goals in a sculling crew boat. In 2006, her aim was to make a national sculling crew boat. Her campaign started at the National Championships at Lake Barrington, Tasmania, where she came second to Dana Faletic in single scull.. Sonia then partnered with Sally Kehoe in the Double Scull in what she says was one of the most exciting races of her sporting career. The duo won gold by just .12 of a second over the race favourites.

‘Everyone has their own goals,’ says Sonia. ‘Go out and enjoy yourself. If you set goals and go for it, anything is possible. But the important thing is, you have to want it to happen, and it will happen.’ As Sonia shows, even goals that seem impossible can be reached if you have enough determination.