Joanna Katie Rowsell MBE (born 5 December 1988) is a retired English cyclist on the Great Britain Cycling Team who competed on

track Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

and road. Her greatest successes were the gold medals won in the women's team pursuit at the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

and the

2016 Rio Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...

as well as five World Championship titles, four in the team pursuit (

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and

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) plus one in the individual pursuit at the 2014 World Championships. She currently holds the World Record in the 3 km team pursuit. Rowsell first came to national prominence as a winner of junior national competitions in 2005/2006.

Early life

Rowsell was born in Carshalton, in the London Borough of Sutton. She competed for Sutton in the London Youth Games. She attended Cuddington Croft Primary School from 1993 to 2000 and

Nonsuch High School Nonsuch High School is an all-girls' grammar school with an academy status, located in Cheam, in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, on the border of the London Borough of Sutton, and standing in of grounds on the edge of Nonsu ...

for Girls from 2000 to 2007.

Career

Rowsell was picked up by British Cycling's Talent Team programme in 2004, after being tested at her school. Her first major wins came in 2005 and 2006. As a junior, she won the British National Track Championships pursuit in both these years, whilst in senior competition on the road she won the 2006 British National Women's Series competition. She represented the UK at the European and World Junior Track and Road Championships in these years. In 2006, she also finished third in the British National Championship and subsequently signed for the professional team

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for the 2007 season. In her first year as a senior, she finished third in the 3 km pursuit and the points race at the National Track Championships. On the road, she finished second in the British National Circuit Race Championships. 2008 saw Rowsell join the new

Nicole Cooke Nicole Denise Cooke, MBE (born 13 April 1983) is a Welsh former professional road bicycle racer and Commonwealth, Olympic and World road race champion. At Beijing in 2008 she became the first British woman to win a Gold Olympic medal in any cyc ...

-led Team Halfords Bikehut. She also continued to compete on the track, winning her first World Title at the 2008 World Championships in Manchester as part of the women's pursuit team. In 2012, she won in preparation for the Olympics at the Track Cycling World Cup in London both the team pursuit and the individual pursuit in February. Rowsell was a member of the team pursuit squad alongside

Dani King Danielle 'Dani' Rowe MBE (née King; born 21 November 1990) is a British former road and track cyclist. She retired from cycling in December 2018. A team pursuit gold medallist from the London Olympics in 2012, Rowe also won three consecutive w ...

and

Laura Trott Laura Trott may refer to: * Laura Kenny (née Trott; born 1992), British track and road cyclist * Laura Trott (politician) Laura Trott (born 7 December 1984) is a British Conservative Party politician, who was elected as the Member of Parlia ...

, when they won the team pursuit event and set a new world record at the

2011–12 UCI Track Cycling World Cup The 2011–12 UCI Track Cycling World Cup (also known as the 2011–2012 UCI Track Cycling World Cup, presented by Samsung for sponsorship reasons) was a multi-race tournament over a season of track cycling. The season ran from 4 November 2011 to ...

in London. They broke the record again at the

2012 UCI Track Cycling World Championships The 2012 UCI Track Cycling World Championships was the World Championships for track cycling in 2012. They took place in Melbourne, Australia from 4 to 8 April 2012. The championships took place in the Hisense Arena which previously hosted the w ...

. At the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in London, Rowsell won a gold medal for the team pursuit alongside King and Trott. Having already set world record times in both the qualifying and semi-finals in this event, the team also went on to set a new world record time of 3:14.051 in the final. Rio 2016 - Track cycling 13 August (CT004) (29168562610)

Rio 2016 - Track cycling 13 August (CT004) (29168562610)

In 2013, Rowsell broke her collarbone at the London cycling festival but, five weeks later, after an operation and training on a

Wattbike Wattbike is a British manufacturer of Stationary bicycle, exercise bikes since 2008. History In September 2020 Wattbike received £11.5 million from Piper, a UK-based investment company, following an increase in sales caused by the COVID-19 pand ...

with a pillow on the bars, she won the Women's Pursuit on the track at the International Belgian Open in Ghent. In September 2014 Rowsell announced that she would be leaving the Wiggle-Honda team and joining the Pearl Izumi Sports Tours International squad on a two-year deal from 2015. In 2016, Rowsell won a gold medal in the Team Pursuit at the Rio Olympics. On 14 March 2017, Rowsell announced that she was retiring from the sport. "The decision to step away has been the hardest I've ever had to make," she said. "I believe I have more to offer the world."

Personal life

Rowsell has alopecia areata, a condition resulting in hair loss. She is A descendant of Jean Samuel Pauly. She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to cycling. Her younger brother

Erick Rowsell Erick Rowsell (born 29 July 1990) is a British former professional road bicycle racing, road racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2012 and 2019 for the , , and teams. He now works as the Elite Road Racing Manager for British Cycling, ...

is a road racing cyclist. Rowsell married Daniel Shand in July 2015 and then competed as Joanna Rowsell Shand. The marriage ended in divorce in 2020. After retirement, she studied human biology at Manchester Metropolitan University, before becoming a medical student at

St. George's Hospital Medical School St George's, University of London (legally St George's Hospital Medical School, informally St George's or SGUL), is a University located in Tooting in South London and is a constituent college of the University of London. St George's has its ...

in 2020.

Major results

;2005 : 1st MaillotReinoUnido

Individual pursuit, National Junior Track Championships ;2006 : 1st MaillotReinoUnido

Individual pursuit, National Junior Track Championships : 1st National Women's Road Race Series : 3rd

National Road Race Championships National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

;2007 : 2nd National Criterium Championships :

National Track Championships National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

::3rd

Individual pursuit ::3rd Bronze medal blank

Points race ;2008 : 1st Jersey rainbow

Team pursuit, UCI Track World Championships : UCI Track Cycling World Cup ::1st Gold medal blank

Team pursuit – Manchester ::1st Gold medal blank

Team pursuit – Melbourne ::1st Gold medal blank

Individual pursuit – Melbourne ::3rd Bronze medal blank

Individual pursuit – Manchester : 1st MaillotReinoUnido

National Criterium Championships : National Road Championships ::1st MaillotReinoUnido

Under–23 ::3rd Senior :UEC European U23 Track Championships ::1st UEC Champion Jersey

Team Pursuit (with Lizzie Armistead and

Katie Colclough Katie Amanda Colclough (born 20 January 1990 ) is a retired English road and track cyclist from Frieston near Grantham, Lincolnshire, and a former member of British Cycling's Olympic Development Squad. Colclough began cycling competitively in 2 ...

) ::3rd Individual Pursuit ;2009 : 1st Jersey rainbow

Team pursuit, UCI Track World Championships : 08–09 UCI Track Cycling World Cup ::1st Gold medal blank

Team pursuit – Copenhagen ::3rd Bronze medal blank

Individual pursuit – Copenhagen : 09–10 UCI Track World Cup ::1st Gold medal blank

Team pursuit – Manchester ::2nd Silver medal blank

Team pursuit – Melbourne ;2010 : 3rd National Criterium Championships ;2011 : 1st UEC Champion Jersey

Team pursuit,

UEC European Track Championships The European Track Cycling Championships are a set of elite level competition events held annually for the various disciplines and distances in track cycling, exclusively for European cyclists, and regulated by the European Cycling Union (UEC ...

: 1st

Team pursuit,

UCI Track World Cup The UCI Track Cycling World Cup (formerly known as the UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics) is a multi race tournament held over a track cycling season - usually between October and February. Each series is divided into several rounds, each held i ...

::1st

Individual pursuit ::1st MaillotReinoUnido

Team pursuit ::3rd Bronze medal blank

Points race ;2012 : 1st Gold medal olympic