Cowley is a village contiguous with the town of Uxbridge in the London Borough of Hillingdon. A largely suburban village with 16 listed buildings, Cowley is 15.4 miles (24.8 km) west of Charing Cross, bordered to the west by Uxbridge Moor in the Green Belt and the River Colne, forming the border with Buckinghamshire. Cowley was an ancient parish in the historic county of Middlesex.
Dame Katherine Jane Grainger is a British former rower and current Chair of UK Sport. She is a 2012 Summer Olympics gold medallist, four-time Olympic silver medallist and six-time World Champion. She served as Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University between 2015 and 2020, and is currently Chancellor of the University of Glasgow.
Durham University Boat Club (DUBC) is the rowing club of Durham University. In recent years, DUBC has cemented itself as one of the strongest university boat clubs in Great Britain. Under the leadership of former British Olympian Wade Hall-Craggs, DUBC notably won the BUCS Victor Ludorum for ten consecutive years (2004-2013), and has produced a number of athletes that have competed internationally at European and World Championship level.
Thomas James MBE is a British rower, twice Olympic champion and victorious Cambridge Blue. In a British coxless four in 2012 he set a world's best time which still stood as of 2021.
Eleanor May Simmonds, OBE is a British former Paralympian swimmer who competed in S6 events. She came to national attention when she competed in the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, winning two gold medals for Great Britain. She was the youngest member of the team, at the age of 13. In 2012, she was again selected for the Great Britain squad, this time swimming at a home games in London. She won another two golds in London, including setting a World Record in the 400m freestyle, and a further gold medal at the Rio Paralympics in 2016, this time setting a world record for the 200m medley.
Sophie Margaret Christiansen, CBE is an English equestrian who has competed in four successive Paralympic Games. In 2012 and 2016 she gained three gold medals at the Paralympics. In 2008 she won two gold medals and a silver at the Beijing Paralympics whilst studying for a master's degree in mathematics at Royal Holloway, University of London. She works as a software developer at investment bank, Goldman Sachs and as a disability campaigner. She qualified for the postponed 2020 Summer Paralympics but had to drop out due to her horse not being fit.
Great Britain competed at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, United Kingdom, from 29 August to 9 September 2012 as the host nation. A total of 288 athletes were selected to compete along with 13 other team members such as sighted guides. The country finished third in the medals table, behind China and Russia, winning 120 medals in total; 34 gold, 43 silver and 43 bronze. Multiple medallists included cyclist Sarah Storey and wheelchair athlete David Weir, who won four gold medals each, and swimmer Stephanie Millward who won a total of five medals. Storey also became the British athlete with the most overall medals, 22, and equal-most gold medals, 11, in Paralympic Games history.
LTA-B1 is an adaptive rowing classification. The classifications were developed and current as of March 2011.
LTA-B2 is an adaptive rowing classification. The classifications were developed and current as of March 2011.
LTA-B3 is an adaptive rowing classification. The classifications were developed and current as of March 2011.
PR3 4+ is a Paralympic rowing classification. The classifications were developed and current as of March 2011. In 2017 the designation was changed from LTA to PR3.
To commemorate British gold medal winners at the 2012 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Paralympics, various post boxes in the home towns of the medal winners around the United Kingdom, plus one each on Sark and the Isle of Man, were repainted gold. It marked the first occasion in modern times that the colour of post boxes in the United Kingdom had been changed from their traditional red. Originally intended to be a temporary measure, due to the positive public response it was later decided the colour change would become a permanent tribute, with boxes additionally receiving their own special plaques.
Pamela Lillian Relph MBE is a British adaptive rower who won gold medals at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Paralympics, thus becoming the first double gold medallist in Paralympic rowing.
Naomi Joy Riches MBE is a British adaptive rower who won a bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Paralympics and a gold medal at the 2012 Summer Paralympics.
James Roe MBE is a British adaptive rower. He was part of the mixed coxed team that won gold at both the 2011 World Rowing Championships and the 2012 Summer Paralympics.
David Smith MBE is a British adaptive rower who won a gold medal at the 2012 Summer Paralympics.
Lily Jacoba van den Broecke is a British rower who competed at the 2012 Summer Paralympics as the coxswain in the mixed coxed four for Great Britain, and won the gold medal.
Zimbabwe sent six athletes across two different sports to the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 September to 18 September 2016.
Oliver Robert George Cook is a British international rower. He is a world champion and an Olympian.
Grace Elizabeth Sorrel Clough is a former British Paralympic rower who competed in the mixed coxed four event. She won multiple gold medals at the World Rowing Championships and World Rowing Cup alongside a gold at the 2016 Summer Paralympics. Clough was inducted into the Sheffield Legends Walk of Fame in 2016 and named a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 2017.
