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| Born | 25 April 1979 (age 44) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Rachel Morris MBE (born 25 April 1979) is a British Paralympic sportswoman who has won Paralympic gold medals in both cycling and rowing. She took a gold medal at the 2008 Summer Paralympics as a handcyclist, and eight years later at Rio she won gold in the women's single sculls as a rower.
She lost both her legs to Complex regional pain syndrome and cycles, in part, to manage the pain. [1] She was born in Guildford, Surrey. [2]
Morris won two gold medals at the 2007 World Para-cycling Championships in Bordeaux, France; she won the time trial and road race events in the women's category B races. [3] [4] This made her the first ever British hand-cyclist to be crowned a double World Champion. [3]
Morris was named to the team for Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Paralympics, where she competed in the road race and time trial in the HC A/B/C disability category for athletes who use a handcycle. [5] [6] She finished sixth in the road race but won the gold medal in the time trial; her time of 20 minutes 57.09 seconds was nearly three minutes faster than her nearest competitor. [5] [7] [8]
At the 2010 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships held in Baie-Comeau, Canada, Morris won two gold medals. [5] Her first came in the H3 category individual time trial; she won the event by over two minutes in a time of 23 minutes 34.71 seconds. [9] Morris won her second gold medal in the road race, beating silver medallist Sandra Graf by over 80 seconds. [10]
Morris was selected to compete for Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Paralympics, where she was aiming to defend her title in the time trial and also to compete in the road race. [11] [12] In July 2012 her participation at the Games was placed in doubt after she was hit by a car during a time trial near her home in Farnham, Surrey. [13] [14] [15] The incident left her with whiplash and shoulder injuries. [14] [15] In addition to her physical injuries Morris' handcycle was damaged in the crash, meaning she had to use her competition bike for training and order a new one for use in the Paralympics. [11] She recovered in time to compete in her first event at the Games on 5 September. [16] In the H1-3 road race at the Games, Morris and team-mate Karen Darke crossed the line together whilst holding hands in order to tie for third place and share the bronze medal: however the photo finish revealed that Morris arrived at the line first, so she alone was awarded third. [17]
She subsequently took up rowing, in the ASW1x (arms and shoulders women's single sculls) event, came 5th at the 2014 World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam, and won the silver medal at the 2015 World Rowing Championships at Lac d'Aiguebelette in France, thus qualifying for the 2016 Rio Paralympics. Morris took the gold in the single sculls event at the Games. [18] However Morris was forced to give up the sport after undergoing two shoulder operations after the Games, after which she spent almost a year in hospital recovering. [19]
After speaking with former rowing team-mate-turned-cross-country skier Scott Meenagh, Morris turned her attention to skiing, first trying a sit ski in March 2018 and taking up cross-country skiing in November of that year. She made her debut at the World Para Nordic Skiing Championships in 2019 in Prince George, British Columbia. [19]
Morris was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to rowing. [20]
Rebecca Jayne Romero, MBE is an English sportswoman, a former World Champion and Olympic Games silver medallist at rowing, and a former World champion and an Olympic champion track cyclist.
Great Britain, represented by the British Olympic Association (BOA), competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. The United Kingdom was represented by the British Olympic Association (BOA), and the team of selected athletes was officially known as Team GB. Britain is one of only five NOCs to have competed in every modern Summer Olympic Games since 1896. The delegation of 547 people included 311 competitors – 168 men, 143 women – and 236 officials. The team was made up of athletes from the whole United Kingdom including Northern Ireland. Additionally some British overseas territories compete separately from Britain in Olympic competition.
Aileen McGlynn is a Scottish paralympic tandem champion cyclist, tandem piloted until 2009 by Ellen Hunter but most regularly piloted by Helen Scott.
Great Britain competed at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, People's Republic of China. Great Britain sent a delegation of around 400, of which 212 were athletes, to compete in eighteen sports at the Games. The team was made up of athletes from the whole United Kingdom; athletes from Northern Ireland, who may elect to hold Irish citizenship under the pre-1999 article 2 of the Irish constitution, are able to be selected to represent either Great Britain or Ireland at the Paralympics. Additionally some British overseas territories compete separately from Britain in Paralympic competition.
Dame Sarah Joanne Storey, is a British Paralympic athlete in cycling and swimming, and a multiple gold medalist in the Paralympic Games, and six times British (able-bodied) national track champion. Her total of 28 Paralympic medals including 17 gold medals makes her the most successful and most decorated British Paralympian of all time as well as one of the most decorated Paralympic athletes of all time. She has the unique distinction of winning five gold medals in Paralympics before turning 19.
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.
Simone Kennedy is an English-born Australian cyclist. She represented Australia at the 2012 Summer Paralympics and won a silver medal in the individual pursuit C1-3. She represented Australia at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
Carol Lynn Cooke, is a Canadian-born Australian cyclist, swimmer and rower. A keen swimmer, she was part of the Canadian national swimming team and was hoping to be selected for the 1980 Moscow Olympics before her country boycotted the games. She moved to Australia in 1994, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1998, and took up rowing in 2006, in which she narrowly missed out on being part of the 2008 Beijing Paralympics. She then switched to cycling, where she won a gold medal at the 2012 London Paralympics, two gold medals at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympics and a silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
Alexandra Lisney is an Australian rower and cyclist. She won a bronze medal in the Women's Individual Pursuit C4 at the 2012 Summer Paralympics. She represented Australian at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
Crystal Lane-Wright is a British Paralympic track and road cyclist competing in C5 events. A bronze medallist in the Road World Championships in 2011, she competed for Great Britain team at the 2012 Summer Paralympics and 2016 Summer Paralympics. At the 2016 Games in Rio she took silver medal in the individual pursuit and bronze in the road race. In 2018, she won the individual pursuit at the Rio de Janeiro Track World Championships. The same year she also took silver in individual time trial and bronze in the road race in the Road World Championships held in Maniago.
Karen Darke,, FRSGS is a British paralympic cyclist, paratriathlete, adventurer and author. She competed at the 2016 Rio Paralympics winning Gold in the Women's road time trial, following her success in the 2012 London Paralympics winning a silver medal in the Women's road time trial H1-2.
Oksana Masters is an American multi-sport Paralympic athlete of Ukrainian descent from Louisville, Kentucky. Having primarily specialized in rowing and cross-country skiing, she won the first ever United States medal in trunk and arms mixed double sculls at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. She was also a part of the U.S. Nordic skiing team at the 2014 Winter Paralympics and the 2018 Winter Paralympics. She won two Paralympic medals in 2014 and five Paralympic medals in 2018, including two gold. She switched to para-cycling after the 2012 Paralympics and competed at the 2016 and 2020 Summer Paralympics, winning two gold medals at the latter. She competed at the 2022 Winter Paralympics, winning a gold medal in Biathlon – Women's 6 kilometres, sitting.
Helen Sarah Scott, is an English sprint cyclist. As well as competing as part of the Great Britain team Scott is also an able-bodied tandem cyclist, who since 2011 has acted as pilot for Paralympian Aileen McGlynn, Sophie Thornhill and Alison Patrick.
Rachel Sarah James is a Welsh racing cyclist specializing in track cycling.
Sophie Thornhill, is a visually impaired English former racing cyclist who competed in para-cycling tandem track events. She is a double world champion, with pilot Rachel James, and a double Commonwealth gold medallist, with pilot Helen Scott, in the tandem sprint and 1 km time trial events. In April 2014, she set world records in the tandem sprint and 1 km time trial, piloted by James. She retired from competition in 2020.
Great Britain and Northern Ireland competed, under the name Great Britain, at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 September to 18 September 2016. The first places for which the team qualified were for six athletes in sailing events.
Lora Marie Fachie, is a visually impaired English racing cyclist who competes in para-cycling tandem road and track events. She is a double world champion, with pilot Corrine Hall, in the tandem road race and 1 km time trial events.
Lauren Rachel Catherine Rowles, is a British parasport rower and former wheelchair athlete. She won gold with Laurence Whiteley in the trunk-arms mixed double sculls (TAMix2x) at the 2016 Summer Paralympics.The pair repeated their achievement in Tokyo at the 2021 Summer Paralympics.
Neah Evans is a Scottish professional racing cyclist specialising in track endurance events. Representing Great Britain at the Olympic Games, European Championships and World Championships, and Scotland at the Commonwealth Games, Evans is an Olympic medalist in the team pursuit, a World points race champion, a six-time European champion in team pursuit (4), individual pursuit and the madison, and a Commonwealth Games medalist.
Great Britain competed in the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, Japan. Originally scheduled to take place between 21 August and 6 September 2020, the Games were postponed to 24 August to 5 September 2021 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. British athletes have competed at sixteen consecutive Summer Paralympics since 1960.
