Vanessa Carol Ward (née Browne; born 5 January 1963) is a retired high jumper from Australia, who set her personal best on 12 February 1989, jumping 1.98 metres at a meet in Perth, Western Australia. This (as of 2013) still stands as the Australian record. A five-time national champion in the women's high jump event, she competed for her native country at two Olympic Games, in Los Angeles 1984 and Seoul 1988. She was an Australian Institute of Sport scholarship holder in 1981 to 1984 and 1987 to 1988.[1]