Victoria Thornley

Last updated

Vicky Thornley
Personal information
NationalityWelsh
Born (1987-11-30) 30 November 1987 (age 35)
St Asaph, Denbighshire, Wales
Years active2007–
Height6 ft 4 in (193 cm)
Weight77 kg (170 lb)
Sport
CountryGreat Britain
Sport Rowing
Event(s)Double sculls
Club Leander Club
Turned pro2009
Medal record
Women's rowing
Representing Flag of the United Kingdom.svg  Great Britain
Olympic Games
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2016 Rio de Janeiro Double sculls
World Championships
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2011 Bled Eight
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2017 Sarasota Single sculls
European Championships
Bronze medal icon (B initial).svg 2015 Poznań Double sculls
Gold medal icon (G initial).svg 2017 Račice Single sculls
Silver medal icon (S initial).svg 2021 Varese Single sculls

Victoria Thornley (born 30 November 1987) is a Welsh 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, [1] [2] and finished fourth in the single sculls at the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Contents

Early life and education

Thornley was born in St Asaph to Andrew and Gina Thornley, and was brought up in Wrexham. She has two sisters. After completing her secondary education at Bishop Heber High School, she went on to study Business Management at the University of Bath and graduate from the GB Rowing Team Start programme. [3]

Before rowing, Thornley was a national championship winning show jumper, having participated since the age of twelve. She also briefly worked as a fashion model. [4] [5] [6]

Rowing career

Thornley began her sporting career through the "Sporting Giants" programme, becoming the first of the scheme's graduates to win a gold medal when she was successful at the 2009 World Under-23 Championships. [7]

She was part of the British squad that topped the medal table at the 2011 World Rowing Championships in Bled, where she won a bronze medal as part of the eight with Alison Knowles, Jo Cook, Jessica Eddie, Louisa Reeve, Natasha Page, Lindsey Maguire, Katie Greves and Caroline O'Connor. [8]

In the 2016 Summer Olympics, she was partnered with Katherine Grainger in the women's double sculls, [9] in which they took the silver medal. [10]

In June 2017 Thornley won the gold medal for women's single sculls in the European Rowing Championship at Račice. [11] She won a silver medal at the 2017 World Rowing Championships in Sarasota, Florida in the single sculls. [12]

In 2021, she won a European silver medal in the single sculls in Varese, Italy. [13] She then finished 4th in the single sculls final at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. . [14]

Thornley announced her retirement from rowing in November 2021. [15]

Personal life

In 2020, Thornley married retired Olympic rower Ric Edgington. [16] [17]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Redgrave</span> British rower

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Katherine Grainger</span> British rower

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frances Houghton</span> British rower

Frances Houghton MBE is a 5 time Olympic rower (2000–2016), 4 times World Champion and 3 times Olympic Silver medallist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rebecca Romero</span> English rower and racing cyclist

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anna Watkins</span> British rower

Anna Rose Watkins MBE PhD is a British rower.

Sarah Katharine Winckless 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.

Olympia Aldersey is an Australian rower. She is an Australian national champion, a dual Olympian and was a 2019 World Champion in the coxless four. In 2014 she set a world's fastest ever time (6:37.31) in a women's double scull over 2000m, a record which has stood since. She rowed in the Australian women's eight at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gillian Lindsay</span> Scottish rower (born 1973)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emma Twigg</span> New Zealand rower

Emma Kimberley Twigg is a New Zealand rower. A single sculler, she was the 2014 world champion and won gold in her fourth Olympics in Tokyo in July 2021. Previous Olympic appearances were in 2008, 2012, and 2016. She has retired from rowing twice, first for master-level studies in Europe in 2015 and then after the 2016 Olympics, disappointed at having narrowly missed an Olympic medal for the second time. After two years off the water, she started training again in 2018 and won silver at the 2019 World Rowing Championships. Since her marriage in 2020, she has become an outspoken advocate for LGBT athletes. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, Twigg won gold in the woman's single scull.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kim Brennan</span> Australian rower

Kimberley Jean "Kim" Brennan is a retired Australian rower. She is a sixteen-time national champion, two-time World Champion, three-time Olympian and Olympic gold medallist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Helen Glover</span> British rower

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Heather Stanning</span> British rower

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jessica Eddie</span> British rower

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.

Katherine Sarah Copeland MBE is a retired British Olympic Gold Medal winning rower.

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.

Paul Anthony Thompson MBE is an Australian elite level rowing coach and former rower. As a rower he was an Australian under-age champion, won a silver medal at the 1985 U23 World Championships and rowed in senior King's Cup eights for both South Australia and New South Wales. He has coached Australian and British crews to World Championship titles and Olympic medals including taking Kate Slatter and Megan Still to Australia's first women's Olympic rowing gold at Atlanta 1996. By 2012 he was Great Britain's head coach for women and lightweights and took British crews to three gold and two silver medals at London 2012.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul O'Donovan</span> Irish rower

Paul O'Donovan is an Irish lightweight rower. He is an Olympic gold medallist in lightweight double sculls where he set a new world's best time for that event and is a five-time world champion in single and double sculls.

Thomas Elliott Barras is a British rower. He won a bronze medal in the single scull at the 2017 World Championships and a silver medal in the quadruple scull at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. He is also a qualified physiotherapist, having graduated with a degree in Physiotherapy from Cardiff University.

Katrina Bateman is an Australian former representative rower. She is a ten time Australian national champion, winning four national titles in the single year of 2015 and rowing in successful Victorian Queen's Cup crews for six consecutive years from 2011-2016. She was twice a medallist at underage world championships and has won gold, silver & bronze medals at World Rowing Cups between 2013 and 2019.

References

  1. "Victoria Thornley". www.london2012.com. Archived from the original on 6 September 2012. Retrieved 5 September 2012.
  2. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Victoria Thornley". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 4 December 2016.
  3. "Vicky Thornley strikes European gold as Bath Start rowers make international debuts in Racice". 28 May 2017.
  4. Longmore, Andrew. "Vicky Thornley: Quick change model".
  5. "Welsh Olympic rower Vicky Thornley proves she is best of British". 20 April 2014.
  6. "Biography".
  7. "Victoria Thornley". British Rowing. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
  8. "2011 World Rowing Championships". WorldRowing.com. World Rowing Federation. Archived from the original on 19 March 2016. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  9. "Vicky Thornley insists there are no excuses over rough Rio rowing conditions". WalesOnline. 6 August 2016. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
  10. "Rio Olympics 2016: Katherine Grainger and Victoria Thornley win double sculls silver". BBC Sport. BBC. 11 August 2016. Retrieved 11 August 2016.
  11. "European Rowing Championships: Vicky Thornley wins gold for Britain". BBC Sport. BBC. 18 June 2017. Retrieved 19 June 2017.
  12. "World Rowing Championships: Britain's Vicky Thornley wins silver on final day". BBC Sport. 4 November 2021. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  13. "Women's Single Sculls Final A (Final)". World Rowing. Retrieved 11 June 2021.
  14. "Tokyo Olympics: GB's rower Vicky Thornley misses out on bronze medal in single sculls". BBC Sport.
  15. "Vicky Thornley: Welsh Olympic rower announces retirement". BBC Sport.
  16. "Rowing couple finally tie the knot".
  17. "Tokyo is my last chance for gold... Then I'm getting married".