 Romero at the World Championships in 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Rebecca Jayne Romero | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 24 January 1980 Carshalton, United Kingdom | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in) [1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 73 kg (161 lb) [1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Discipline | Track & Road | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Role | Rider | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rider type | TT / Pursuit | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Rebecca Jayne Romero, (born 24 January 1980) is an English sportswoman, a former world champion and Olympic Games silver medallist in rowing, and a former world and Olympic champion in track cycling. [2]
Romero was born in Carshalton, [1] London, to an English mother and Spanish father. [3] She was brought up in Wallington, London where she attended Wallington High School for Girls. Romero took up rowing at the age of 17 when she joined Kingston Rowing Club. A coach at the club helped fund her ambitions. [4]
In her early career, Romero finished fifth in the quadruple sculls at both the 2001 [5] and 2002 World Rowing Championships. [6] At the 2003 World Rowing Championships in Milan, Romero and Debbie Flood finished fourth in the double sculls. [7] In June 2004, Romero, Frances Houghton, Alison Mowbray and Flood won the World Cup event in Lucerne. [8] The same four then won the Princess Grace Trophy at the Henley Royal Regatta, as well as taking the overall World Cup series title. [9] Romero then won a silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in the quadruple sculls again competing with Mowbray, Houghton and Flood. The quartet finished behind Germany who were undefeated in the event since 1988. [10] The following year, she was a member of the British crew that won the 2005 World Rowing Championships in the quad sculls. Romero, Houghton, Sarah Winckless and Katherine Grainger finished 0.34 seconds ahead of second-placed Germany in the championships held in Japan. [11] Suffering from a persistent back injury, Romero retired from rowing in 2006. [12]
Romero became a racing cyclist after British Cycling contacted her in April 2006 to see if she was interested in giving the sport a try. [13] In September that year, she won the British National Time Trial Championships after finishing 15 seconds ahead of second-placed Wendy Houvenaghel. [14] The following month, Romero was beaten by Houvenaghel to the national 3 km individual pursuit title. [15] In December 2006, Romero won a silver medal in the individual pursuit at the Track World Cup event in Moscow – her international cycling debut – losing out to Houvenaghel. [16] She then won another silver medal behind Houvenaghel at a subsequent event of the competition in Manchester. [17]
Romero won her first Track Cycling World Championships medal in March 2007 with silver in the 3 km individual pursuit. She was defeated by the American rider Sarah Hammer in the final who finished over three seconds ahead of her. [18] Also that year, Romero became the national champion in the individual pursuit. [19] In the 2007-08 World Cup, Romero won a gold medal in the indivdual pursuit at the event in Copenhagen. It was her first World Cup victory and she defeated Vilija Sereikaitė in the gold-medal race. [20]
The following year, at the 2008 Track Cycling World Championships in Manchester, she won the individual pursuit, overcoming Hammer in the final. Her success meant that she had become a world champion in two different sports across a three-year period. [13] Later in the competition, Romero, riding with Houvenaghel and Joanna Rowsell, also triumphed in the team pursuit. The trio defeated Ukraine in the final by over seven seconds. [21]
In 2008, she became the first ever British woman to compete in two different sports at the Summer Olympics when she rode in the individual pursuit in Beijing. In winning the gold medal, she also became only the second woman of any country, after swimmer and handball player Roswitha Krause of East Germany, to win a Summer Olympics medal in two different sports. [22] She won the gold medal after defeating her fellow British rider Houvenaghel in the final with an advantage of over two seconds. [23] She also finished 11th in the points race. [24]
Romero was expected to return to track cycling in October 2009 but did not return amid speculation that the individual pursuit would be dropped from the Olympic programme. [25] It was announced in December 2009 that the event was to be dropped, meaning Romero was unable to defend her title at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. She condemned the decision to drop the event as "ludicrous" but seemed set to make a further change of events by switching to the road time trial. [26]
In August 2009 she attempted the 874-mile non-stop mixed tandem bicycle record attempt from Land's End to John O'Groats with rower James Cracknell but had to abandon her attempt at more than half way due to a knee injury. [27]
She raced in the British Time Trial Championships in September 2011 finishing 4th overall. [28] In October 2011, Romero announced that she was withdrawing from British Cycling's Olympic Programme and that she would not be competing in the 2012 Summer Olympics. [29] She subsequently confirmed that she would compete in the Ironman 70.3 triathlon in Mallorca and the Ironman UK event in Bolton in 2012, [30] and the 2012 Ironman World Championship. [31]
Romero appeared nude on her bicycle in an advert for Powerade in the run up to the 2008 Summer Olympics. [32]
In January 2013, Romero launched Romero Performance, a business offering sports performance consultancy. [33]
Romero was a nominee for the 2008 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award. [34] She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours. [35] In 2023, she was inducted into the British Cycling Hall of Fame. [36]
Silver, Quadruple sculls (with Frances Houghton, Debbie Flood, Alison Mowbray)
United Kingdom Time Trial Champion (Cycling) 2006 United Kingdom National 3 km Pursuit Champion (Cycling) 2007 
Gold, Individual Pursuit United Kingdom 4th British National Time Trial Championships (Cycling) 2011 13 July 2012
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