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| Born | 18 October 1973 Reading, Berkshire, England | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Sarah Katharine Winckless (born 18 October 1973) is a British former rower. She won a bronze medal in Double sculls with her partner Elise Laverick at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games and was twice world champion, in 2005 and 2006.
Winckless was born in Reading, [1] was educated at Tiffin Girls' School and at Millfield, and began rowing whilst at Cambridge University, where she studied Natural Sciences at Fitzwilliam College. [2]
Winckless made her debut for Great Britain in the women's eight at the World Championships in 1998 and finished eighth. She then transferred to sculling, finishing ninth in the double at the 2000 Olympic Games. She was in GB quadruple scull crews that narrowly missed out on the medals at the 2002 and 2003 World Championships, finishing fourth both times. She teamed up with Elise Laverick for the double scull from 2004 on, producing good results in the World Cup season before taking Olympic bronze in the 2004 Games held in Athens. [1] She returned to the quad for the 2005 and 2006 world championships, winning with Rebecca Romero, Frances Houghton and Katherine Grainger in 2005 and Debbie Flood, Houghton & Grainger in 2006. [1] She was unable to compete in 2007, due to injury, but returned to the GB team for the 2008 Olympic Games, racing in the Women's eight. [1]
She announced her retirement from rowing in April 2009. [1]
She was the UK Chef de Mission for the Youth Olympic Games and served as the inaugural Chairman of the BOA's Athletes Commission. She was the first woman to be appointed as a Boat Race umpire, and in 2020 she would have been the first woman to umpire the men's Boat Race; as the race was cancelled, she achieved this in 2021. [3]
She serves on the Athletes Commission and the Board of UK Anti-Doping. [4] She was awarded an MBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours 2015 for "services to sport and young people". [5]
Winckless is a campaigner for Huntington's disease charities, having tested positive for the gene mutation while she was at university. [6] She is a patron of the Scottish Huntington's Association. [7] Her parents are Bob Winckless, a three times Cambridge Blue (1967, 1968 and 1969) and Valerie Winckless. Her mother later remarried to Olympic rower Michael Hart. [8]
Sir Steven Geoffrey Redgrave is a British retired rower who won gold medals at five consecutive Olympic Games from 1984 to 2000. He has also won three Commonwealth Games gold medals and nine World Rowing Championships golds. He is the most successful male rower in Olympic history, and the only man to have won gold medals at five Olympic Games in an endurance sport.
Dame Katherine Jane Grainger is a Scottish 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 for Great Britain. She served as Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University between 2015 and 2020 and is currently Chancellor of the University of Glasgow.
Annabel Morwenna Vernon is a retired British rower.
Deborah Kirsty Bruwer is an English rower, noteworthy for winning silver medals in the quadruple sculls at both the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games.
Frances Houghton MBE is a 5 time Olympic rower (2000–2016), 4 times World Champion and 3 times Olympic Silver medallist.
Elise Mary Sherwell is a British rower. She won bronze at the 2004 Summer Olympics in the double scull with Sarah Winckless, and again at the 2008 Summer Olympics with Anna Bebington. She won the Wingfield Sculls in 2007.
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.
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.
Edinburgh University Boat Club (EUBC) is one of the oldest sports clubs of the University of Edinburgh, in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland.
Anna Rose Watkins is a British rower.
Alison Mowbray is a British former rower who won a silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics competing in the women's quadruple scull.
Gillian Lindsay is a former Team GB Scottish rower. She won silver in the quadruple sculls at the 2000 Summer Olympics silver medalist, and two-time medal winner in the World Championships, taking silver in the double sculls in 1997 and gold in 1998. Since her retirement in 2001, she has focused on coaching and commentating.
Helen Rachel Mary Backshall 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 quintuple 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.
Sophie Hannah Marguerite Hosking MBE is a retired British rower.
Philippa June Baker, now known by her married name Philippa Baker-Hogan, is a former New Zealand rower and politician. She was the first New Zealand woman to win a gold medal at World Rowing Championships and won gold at world championships on two more occasions. She has twice represented New Zealand at the Olympics. She has received numerous awards for her rowing success and in 2012, she and fellow double sculler Brenda Lawson were inducted into the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame. A trained radiographer, she manages her husband's medical practice. She has been a Whanganui District Health Board and Whanganui District Council member since 2004 and 2006, respectively, and was a mayoral candidate in 2010. She is a member of the New Zealand Labour Party.
Melanie Wilson is a British rower who competed for the GB rowing team. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she competed in the Women's quadruple sculls. At the 2016 Summer Olympics she won a silver medal in the women's eight.
Victoria Thornley is a British rower. She won a silver medal for Great Britain with Katherine Grainger in the women's double sculls at the 2016 Summer Olympics. She was also a member of the Great Britain team that finished fifth in the women's eight at the 2012 Summer Olympics, and finished fourth in the single sculls at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Emily Elizabeth Craig is a British lightweight Olympic champion and three-time world champion rower.
Imogen Daisy Grant is a British lightweight world and Olympic champion rower.
Paige Badenhorst is a South African rower. She competed in The Boat Race 2022 and the 2024 Paris Olympics.
