Robyn Maher (born 6 October 1959) is an Australian former

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. A three-time Olympian, she was a member of the national women's team that won the bronze medal at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, Georgia. In the

Women's National Basketball League The Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) is a professional women's basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Australia composed of eight teams. The league was founded in 1981 and is the Women's sports, women's counterpart to the Na ...

, she played for the Nunawading Spectres,

Hobart Islanders The Hobart Islanders (also known as the Tassie Islanders) were an Australian professional basketball team based in Hobart, Tasmania. The Islanders competed in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) and played their home games at Kingbor ...

, Perth Breakers and Sydney Uni Flames. Maher was appointed a

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

(AM) in the 2002 Australia Day Honours in recognition of her "service to basketball as a player and administrator, and for the promotion of the sport among young people". In 2006, Maher was inducted into the Australian Basketball Hall of Fame. In October 2018, she was inducted into the

Sport Australia Hall of Fame The Sport Australia Hall of Fame was established on 10 December 1985 to recognise the achievements of Australian sportsmen and sportswomen. The inaugural induction included 120 members with Don Bradman, Sir Don Bradman as the first inductee and ...

Early life

Born in

Ballarat, Victoria Ballarat ( ) () is a city in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Australian census, 2021 census, Ballarat had a population of 111,973, making it the third-largest urban inland city in Australi ...

, Maher initially played

tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

and

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

but switched to basketball in primary school.

WNBL career

Maher played 369 games in the

, featuring in 10 championships and 13 grand finals. With the Nunawading Spectres, she won six titles in seven years between 1983 and 1989 under coach and husband

Tom Maher Tom Maher (born 4 September 1952 in Melbourne, Victoria) is an Australian basketball coach. Maher is the most successful coach in history of the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL), having won nine championships. He coached the Nunawa ...

. With the

in 1991, she was grand final MVP as she led the Islanders to a victory over her old Spectres team. Her and Tom reunited as a player/coach duo at the Perth Breakers in 1992 and won another championship. She completed a hat-trick of WNBL championships in 1993 with the Sydney Uni Flames. She won her tenth championship in 1997 with Sydney.

Personal life

Maher's father is former Victorian Football League player Jim Gull. Her brother, Stewart Gull, also played in the VFL. Maher's husband is former

Opals Opal is a hydrated amorphous form of silicon dioxide, silica (SiO2·''n''H2O); its water content may range from 3% to 21% by weight, but is usually between 6% and 10%. Due to the amorphous (chemical) physical structure, it is classified as a ...

coach

References

1959 births Living people Australian women's basketball players Basketball players at the 1984 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 1988 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic basketball players for Australia Olympic bronze medalists for Australia Sportspeople from Ballarat Olympic medalists in basketball Sydney Uni Flames players Members of the Order of Australia Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Sportswomen from Victoria (state) 20th-century Australian sportswomen {{Australia-basketball-bio-stub

Early life

WNBL career

Personal life

See also

References