| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | 25 June 1984 (age 38) |
| Sport | |
| Country | Great Britain |
| Sport | Women's rowing |
| College team | Imperial College Boat Club [1] |
Medal record | |
Melanie Wilson (born 25 June 1984) is a British rower who competed for the GB rowing team. [2] [3] At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she competed in the Women's quadruple sculls. [4] [5] At the 2016 Summer Olympics she won a silver medal in the women's eight.
Born in Southampton, Wilson spent her early years in Japan and Hong Kong before moving to the UK in 2002 to take an honours degree in Biochemistry and Genetics at the University of Nottingham. [3] She was educated at Island School in Hong Kong. [6] [7] After graduating she spent 6 months in Kilifi, Kenya working on research into malaria under the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme. [3] In 2007, she completed a master's degree in Biochemical Engineering at UCL before enrolling in Imperial College London to sit for a post-graduate degree in medicine. [8] After she was selected to join the GB Rowing team she suspended her medical studies in 2010 to focus on competing for a place in a GB boat in the London 2012 Olympics. Following the London Olympics she resumed her medical studies and withdrew from full-time competitive rowing in September 2013. She graduated in July 2014 and returned to full-time rowing with the aim of competing at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Initially selected for the GBRowing quadruple sculls she was moved into the eight in early 2016 and selected to compete in this boat class at Rio de Janeiro in June 2016. She retired from international rowing after the Rio de Janeiro Olympics to continue her medical career.
In Munich at the first World Cup of 2011 Wilson, in the absence of injured Anna Watkins, raced with Katherine Grainger in the women's double and won a gold medal, with clear water between them and the boats of USA and Belarus in silver and bronze positions respectively. Wilson moved into the women's quadruple scull for the Lucerne World Cup, where she won a silver medal. [8]
At 2011 World Rowing Championships in Bled, Slovenia, Wilson raced in the women's quadruple scull with crewmates Debbie Flood, Beth Rodford and Annabel Vernon, finishing 7th. [8] This was sufficient to qualify the boat for the 2012 London Olympics but a below form finish and a result which Wilson described as 'the biggest disappointment of my life'. [9]
At the 2012 GB Rowing Team Senior Trials held on 10/11 March at Eton/Dorney, Wilson finished 5th in the women's single scull. She was subsequently selected to race in the quadruple scull at the Belgrade World Cup in May 2012. [10] In the lead up to the 2012 London Olympics Wilson then competed in the World Cup quadruple scull races at Lucerne and Munich.
At the 2012 London Olympics at Dorney Lake, Eton Wilson raced with Debbie Flood, Frances Houghton and Beth Rodford in the GB quadruple sculls boat. The boat qualified for the A Final but failed to deliver a competitive performance in the finals and finished outside the medals in 6th place.
In 2013 Wilson raced in a single scull at the Eton Dorney World Cup, where she won the B Final, then in the Women's Eight at Lucerne, finishing fourth, and again in the Women's Eight at the World Championships in South Korea where the boat finished fourth.
In October 2014 Wilson, rowing with Emma Twigg from New Zealand, won the 2014 British Rowing Senior Championships double sculls at Nottingham.
In November 2014 Wilson won the Wingfield Sculls on the River Thames.
On 14 March 2015 Wilson was part of the composite crew that won the Women's Eights Head of the River Race on the River Thames in London, setting a time of 18:58.6 for the 4 1⁄4-mile (6.8 km) Championship Course from Mortlake to Putney. The crew comprised: Heather Stanning – Army RC; Helen Glover – Minerva-Bath RC; Zoe Lee – Imperial College BC; Katherine Grainger – Marlow RC; Melanie Wilson; Caragh McMurtry – Southampton Coalporters ARC; Olivia Carnegie-Brown – Oxford Brookes University BC; Jessica Eddie – London RC; cox Phelan Hill – Leander Club. [11]
Wilson competed in the GBRowing women's quadruple sculls through the 2015 World Rowing regatta program. The boat's best performance came at the European Rowing Championship event at Poznan in Poland where it finished fourth in the A Final.
At the Olympic qualifying World Championship event at Aiguebelette, France the boat could only manage a 2nd place in the B Finals and therefore failed to qualify for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Wilson moved into the GBRowing Women's 8 boat in 2016. In the run up to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics the crew achieved successive podium finishes at Brandenburg (European Championship – Gold medal), Lucerne (World Cup – Silver medal) and Poznan (World Cup – Silver medal). In June 2016 Wilson was selected to row in the GB women's eight at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. She won a silver medal in the women's eight at the 2016 Summer Olympics. [12]
| Event | Venue | Class | Race | Position / Time | Medal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 Olympic Games | Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | W8+ | Final A | 2nd 06:03.98 | Silver |
| 2016 World Cup | Poznan Malta, Poland | W8+ | Final A | 2nd 06:08.25 | Silver |
| 2016 World Cup | Lucerne Rotsee, Switzerland | W8+ | Final A | 2nd 06:01.95 | Silver |
| 2016 European Championships | Brandenburg, Germany | W8+ | Final A | 1st 06:51.46 | Gold |
| 2015 World Championships | Aiguebelette, France | W4x | Final B | 2nd 06:21.94 | |
| 2015 World Cup | Lucerne Rotsee, Switzerland | W4x | Final A | 6th 06:29.6 | |
| 2015 World Cup | Varese, Italy | W4x | Final B | 1st 06:22.24 | |
| 2015 European Championships | Poznan Malta, Poland | W4x | Final A | 4th 06:21.07 | |
| 2013 World Championships | Chungju Tangeum Lake, Korea | W8+ | Final A | 4th 06:11.80 | |
| 2013 World Cup | Lucerne Rotsee, Switzerland | W8+ | Final A | 4th 06:04.84 | |
| 2013 World Cup | Eton Dorney Lake, Great Britain | W1x | Final B | 1st 07:39.64 | |
| 2012 Olympic Games | Eton Dorney Lake, Great Britain | W4x | Final A | 6th 06:51.54 | |
| 2012 World Cup | Munich Oberschleissheim, Germany | W4x | Final A | 3rd 06:37.57 | Bronze |
| 2012 World Cup | Lucerne Rotsee, Switzerland | W4x | Final A | 5th 06:23.73 | |
| 2012 World Cup | Belgrade Sava, Serbia | W4x | Final A | 3rd 06:25.23 | Bronze |
| 2011 World Championships | Lake Bled, Slovenia | W4x | Final B | 1st 06:30.33 | |
| 2011 World Cup | Lucerne Rotsee, Switzerland | W4x | Final A | 2nd 06:35.28 | Silver |
| 2011 World Cup | Munich Oberschleissheim, Germany | W2x | Final A | 1st 06:57.52 | Gold |
| 2010 World Cup | Lake Bled, Slovenia | W1x | Final B | 3rd 07:52.52 | |
| 2009 World Championships | Poznan Malta, Poland | W8+ | Final A | 5th 06:12.66 |
Annabel Morwenna Vernon is a retired British rower.
Frances Houghton MBE is a 5 time Olympic rower (2000–2016), 4 times World Champion and 3 times Olympic Silver medallist.
Andrew Triggs Hodge is a British former rower - a three time Olympic champion and four time world champion. In the British coxless four in 2012 he set a world's best time which still stood as of 2023.
Matthew Langridge is a British rower. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London he was part of the British crew that won the bronze medal in the men's eight. He was the 2015 European Champion in the men's pair, along with James Foad. At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro he was part of the British crew that won the gold medal in the men's eight.
University of London Boat Club is the rowing club for the University of London and its member institutions, many of which also have their own boat clubs. The club has its boathouse on the Thames in Chiswick, London, UK. It is a designated High-Performance Programme funded by British Rowing.
David William Crawshay is an Australian former rower, an eleven-time national champion, an Olympic champion and medalist at World Championships. He represented Australia in rowing at three consecutive Olympic games from Athens 2004 to London 2012.
Anna Rose Watkins MBE PhD is a British rower.
Caryn Davies is an American rower. She won gold medals as the stroke seat in women's eight at the 2012 Summer Olympics and the 2008 Summer Olympics. In April 2015 Davies stroked Oxford University to victory in the first ever women's Oxford/Cambridge boat race held on the same stretch of the river Thames in London where the men's Oxford/Cambridge race has been held since 1829. She was the most highly decorated Olympian to take part in either [men's or women's] race. In 2012 Davies was ranked number 4 in the world by the International Rowing Federation. At the 2004 Olympic Games she won a silver medal in the women's eight. Davies has won more Olympic medals than any other U.S. oarswoman. The 2008 U.S. women's eight, of which she was a part, was named FISA crew of the year. Davies is from Ithaca, New York, where she graduated from Ithaca High School, and rowed with the Cascadilla Boat Club. Davies was on the Radcliffe College (Harvard) Crew Team and was a member on Radcliffe's 2003 NCAA champion Varsity 8, and overall team champion. In 2013, she was a visiting student at Pembroke College, Oxford, where she stroked the college men's eight to a victory in both Torpids and the Oxford University Summer Eights races. In 2013–14 Davies took up Polynesian outrigger canoeing in Hawaii, winning the State novice championship and placing 4th in the long-distance race na-wahine-o-ke-kai with her team from the Outrigger Canoe Club. In 2013, she was inducted into the New York Athletic Club Hall of Fame. She has served as a Vice President of the U.S. Olympians Association and as athletes' representative to the Board of USRowing.
Beth Rodford is a British rower. Rodford participated in two Olympic games, 2008 Summer in Beijing and 2012 Summer in London. At Beijing, she finished in fifth place in the Women's Eight. In 2012 at London, she finished in sixth position in the quadruple sculls. She announced her retirement from international rowing on 16 December 2015.
Brooke Pratley is an Australian former rower. She is an Australian national champion, a world champion, a dual Olympian and an Olympic medal-winner. Together with Kim Crow, she won a silver medal at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
Hannah Every-Hall is an Australian former rower, a national champion, World Champion and Olympian.
Helen Glover is a British professional rower and a member of the Great Britain Rowing Team. Ranked the number 1 female rower in the world in 2015–16, she is a two-time Olympic champion, triple World champion, quintuple World Cup champion and quadruple European champion. She and her partner Heather Stanning were the World, Olympic, World Cup and European record holders, plus the Olympic, World and European champions in the women's coxless pairs. She has also been a British champion in both women's fours and quadruple sculls.
Heather Mary Stanning OBE is a retired British professional rower, a member of the Great Britain Rowing Team, and Royal Artillery officer. Ranked number 1 female rower in the world in 2016, she is a double Olympic champion, double World champion, quadruple World Cup champion and double European champion. As of May 2015, she and her partner Helen Glover were the World, Olympic, World Cup and European record holders, plus the reigning Olympic, World, and European champions in the women's coxless pairs. She has also been a British champion in both women's fours and quad sculls.
Jessica Jane Eddie is a British rower. She won a silver medal in the women's eight at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Sally Kehoe is an Australian former representative rower who was a national champion, three-time Olympian and a representative at multiple world championships. Since 2014 she has held the world-record time in the women's double scull over 2000m.
Eve Macfarlane is a New Zealand rower. Described as a "natural rower", she went to the 2009 World Rowing Junior Championships within a few months of having taken up rowing and won a silver medal. She represented New Zealand at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London as the country's youngest Olympian at those games. She was the 2015 world champion in the women's double sculls with Zoe Stevenson. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, they came fourth in the semi-finals and thus missed the A final.
Martino Goretti is an Italian representative lightweight rower, a current (2019) world champion and a dual Olympian. He has represented at senior World Rowing Championships and World Rowing Cups consistently from 2005 to 2019. He is a four time world champion at the senior level who won three titles in Italian lightweight eights from 2005 to 2009 and then in 2019 won the lightweight single scull world title. He had previously won underage world championships as a junior and an U23.
Polly Swann is a British rower and a member of the Great Britain Rowing Team. She is a former World and European champion in the women's coxless pairs, having won the 2013 World Rowing Championships at Chungju in Korea, and the 2014 European Rowing Championships at Belgrade, Serbia with her partner Helen Glover. At the 2016 Summer Olympics she won a silver medal in the women's eight.
Victoria Meyer-Laker is a British professional rower and a member of the Great Britain Rowing Team.
Lucy Spoors is a New Zealand rower. She is a 2019 world champion winning the women's eight title at the 2019 World Rowing Championships.
