Ms Tanya Harding

Tanya Harding was a pitching powerhouse in world softball throughout a glittering career in which she represented Australia from 1993 through until 2008.

Brisbane born and bred, she went to four Olympic Games in 1996-2000-2004-2008, coming home with three bronze medals and one silver. She was also was a triple medal winner in four visits to the world championships in 1994-98-2002-06, and at her peak presented an imposing figure on the mound the equal of any in the game.

Ranked in the top five pitchers in the world for more than a decade, she won she won 20 major medals and 32 individual awards at national and international level. She also grabbed national headlines when, in 1995, she enrolled at the world famous UCLA University.

She was named ‘most valuable player’ on a team that won the coveted NCAA national title, establishing her credentials as a world-class talent, before the university was stripped of the title two years later due to scholarship violations. Tanya Harding … an institution in world softball and women’s sport in Australia.