Danielle Brown

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(born 10 April 1988) is a British competitive archer and award winning children's author. She has competed in the

Paralympic Games The Paralympic Games or Paralympics, also known as the ''Games of the Paralympiad'', is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of physical disabilities, including impaired muscle power and impaire ...

, winning gold medals in Beijing and London, and has also won medals shooting in the able-bodied category, including at the Commonwealth Games. She was born in Steeton,

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

."Ones to watch in Delhi: Danielle Brown"
BBC, 4 October 2010

Career

Her first international competitive event was at the European Archery Championships (for athletes with disabilities) in Nymburk in 2006. She reached the semi-finals of the Compound Bow Open Class event, and was defeated by

Gulbin Su Gulbin , is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Giby, within Sejny County, Podlaskie Voivodeship, in north-eastern Poland, close to the borders with Belarus and Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of ...

of Turkey. She lost the bronze medal match to fellow British competitor Melanie Clarke.Athlete results: Melanie Brown
, International Paralympic Committee – Archery She then took part in the

IPC IPC may refer to: Computing * Infrastructure protection centre or information security operations center * Instructions per cycle or instructions per clock, an aspect of central-processing performance * Inter-process communication, the sharin ...

World Archery Championships in Cheongju in 2007. Competing in the Compound Bow Open Class event, she won gold with a score of 114 points (defeating Gulbin Su 116–107 in the semi-final, and Wang Li of China 114–108 in the final). She was also part of the British women's team which won gold in the team event in the Compound Bow Open Class, defeating Japan 221–199 in the final. In 2008, Brown won silver (beaten by Gulbin Su in the final) in the Invitation Disabled Archery Event in

Stoke Mandeville Stoke Mandeville is a village and civil parish in the Vale of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located three miles (4.9 km) from Aylesbury and 3.4 miles (5.5 km) from the market town of Wendover. Although a separate civil p ...

, then competed at the

in Beijing, where she won gold in the Women's individual compound, defeating Wang in the quarter-finals, Clarke in the semis, and Chieko Kamiya of Japan in the final (112–98). In 2009, she won a second successive individual gold medal, and a team gold, at the IPC World Archery Championships, followed in 2010 by three successive individual gold medals: at the Arizona Cup, at the Stoke Mandeville World Invitational Disabled Archery Competition, and at the

European Para-Archery Championships The European Para-Archery Championships is a competition for European disabled archers. Editions Medal table Results 2010 (Vichy) 2014 (Nottwil) 129 archers from 24 countries participated. 2016 (Saint-Jean-de-Monts) 2018 ( Pilsen) 126 ar ...

. She represented England in

archery Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a bow to shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting and combat. In m ...

at the

2010 Commonwealth Games The 2010 Commonwealth Games (Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India, f ...

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

, having qualified "after a two-day selection shoot in

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

in June where she finished second behind world number one Nicky Hunt". She was "the first Paralympian to represent England in an able-bodied event at the Games", though cyclist Sarah Storey (who won two gold medals in cycling at the 2008 Paralympics) also competed against able-bodied athletes a few days later. She won a gold medal in the Women's Team Compound event, beating Canada 232–229 alongside team-mates Nicky Hunt and

Nichola Simpson Nichola Simpson (born 10 October 1956) is an athlete from Oxford, Great Britain. She competes in compound archery, and has reached a career high of 4th in the FITA world rankings (23 August 2008). Simpson is a member of Oxford Archers, and is ...

. In 2011, she won an additional individual gold medal at the IPC World Championships in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

, followed by two silver medals in the women's team event and the mixed team event. In 2012, she won her second successive Paralympic Games gold medal, beating GB teammate Mel Clarke in the final at the Royal Artillery Barracks, London. That year she also won the Indoor World Cup in Nimes and got a silver medal at the World Cup Finals in Tokyo, both in the able-bodied category. Brown was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the

2013 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2013 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to Orders and decorations of the Commonwealth realms, various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Hon ...

for services to archery. She is also one of many athletes to have had a postbox painted gold after the London Paralympics On 1 September 2013 Brown won the able-bodied British title with victory at the Archery GB National Series finals in Nottingham. She beat Lucy O'Sullivan 142–141 in the compound final. In November 2013, World Archery announced that Brown would not be able to compete in Para-Archery contests (such as the 2016 Olympics) in the future as her disability did not have a direct and important impact on her archery performance. She appealed the ruling, but it was upheld in favour of World Archery. As of 1 April 2014, she is unable to compete in Para-Archery. Brown competed at the 2015 able-bodied World Championships in Copenhagen. In 2017 she appeared on '' Christmas University Challenge'' on a team representing Leicester University.

Personal life

Brown has

complex regional pain syndrome Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is any of several painful conditions that are characterized by a continuing (spontaneous and/or evoked) regional pain that is seemingly disproportionate in time or degree to the usual course of any known trau ...

(CRPS) in her feet, and competes sitting on a stool. She was, at the time of the 2008 Paralympics, a law student at Leicester University, and subsequently achieved first-class honours. She was given an honorary degree of Doctors of Laws from the University of Leicester on Friday 25 January 2013 On 19 September 2013 Leicester University named the Danielle Brown Sports Centre after her. On 22 September 2013 Brown was made a Freewoman of the district of

Craven Craven may refer to: * Craven in the Domesday Book, an area of Yorkshire, England, larger area than the district ** Craven District, a local government district of North Yorkshire formed in 1974 Places * Craven, New South Wales, Australia, see ...

and on 1 July 2014 Brown was given the

Freedom Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving on ...

of the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

. In 2019, Brown was inducted into the

British University and College Sport's British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Hall of Fame. On 26 May 2022, Brown won the ''Sunday Times'' Children's Sports Book of the Year award for her book ''Run Like a Girl''.

Bibliography

*''Collins GCSE Revision Study Skills'' (2015) *''Be Your Best Self - Life Skills For Unstoppable Kids'' (2019) *''Run Like A Girl - 50 Extraordinary And Inspiring Sportswomen'' (2021) *''One Hundred Reasons To Hope'' (2021), curated on behalf of

Captain Tom Moore Captain Sir Thomas Moore (30 April 1920 – 2 February 2021), more popularly known as Captain Tom, was a British Army officer and fundraiser who made international headlines in 2020 when he raised money for charity in the run-up to his 100th bir ...

. *''Girls Rule - 50 Women Who Changed The World'' (2023)

Achievements

;2006 :4th, European Para Championships, individual, Nymburk ;2007 : IPC World Championships, individual, Cheongju : IPC World Championships, women's team, Cheongju ;2008 : World Invitational Disabled Competition, individual,

Summer Paralympics The Summer Paralympics also known as the Games of the Paralympiad, are an international multi-sport event where athletes with physical disabilities compete. This includes athletes with mobility disabilities, amputations, blindness, and cerebral ...

, individual, Beijing ;2009 : IPC World Championships, women's team, Nymburk : IPC World Championships, individual, Nymburk :12th, Summer Universiade, individual,

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

;2010 : Arizona Cup, individual,

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1 ...

: Arizona Cup, mixed team,

: Arizona Cup, women's team,

: World Invitational Disabled Competition, individual,

: European Para Championships, individual,

Vichy Vichy (, ; ; oc, Vichèi, link=no, ) is a city in the Allier Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of central France, in the historic province of Bourbonnais. It is a Spa town, spa and resort town and in World ...

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

, women's team,

: World Cup, women's team, Shanghai ;2011 : IPC World Championships, individual,

: IPC World Championships, women's team,

: IPC World Championships, mixed team,

;2012 : Nimes Indoor World Cup – able bodied, Nimes, France : Arizona Cup, women's team,

: World Cup, mixed team, Shanghai : 2012 Summer Paralympics, individual, London : World Cup Final – able bodied, individual, Tokyo ;2013 : UK National Series Champion, able-bodied,

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

4th World Championships, women's team, able-bodied, Belek : IPC World Championships, individual,

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...

: IPC World Championships, mixed team,

;2022 : Children's Sports Book of the Year, Sunday Times Sports Book Awards: Run Like A Girl

References

External links