Dame Katherine Jane Grainger (born 12 November 1975) is a British former

rower Rowing, sometimes called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars are attached to the boat using oarlocks, while paddles are not connected to the boat. Rowing is ...

and current Chair of

UK Sport UK Sport is the government agency responsible for investing in Olympic and Paralympic sport in the United Kingdom. It is an executive non-departmental public body sponsored by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport. It was created ...

. She is a

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 ...

gold medallist, four-time Olympic silver medallist and six-time World Champion. She served as Chancellor of

Oxford Brookes University Oxford Brookes University (formerly known as Oxford Polytechnic (United Kingdom), Polytechnic) is a public university, public university in Oxford, England. It is a new university, having received university status through the Further and High ...

between 2015 and 2020, and is currently Chancellor of the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

. Grainger first won silver at the Sydney Olympics in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

in the woman's quadruple sculls. In Athens in 2004, she won silver in the coxless pairs. In Beijing

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

she won her third silver, again in the quadruple sculls. At the London Olympics

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

, Anna Watkins and Grainger broke the Olympic record as they qualified for the double sculls final, before winning the gold medal. Grainger won a silver medal at the Rio Olympic Games

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

with

Victoria Thornley 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 finishe ...

, after a two-year break from the sport. Grainger has won eight medals at the World Championship between 1997 and 2011.

Early life and education

Born in Glasgow in 1975, she attended Mosshead Primary School prior to attending

Bearsden Academy Bearsden Academy is a non-denominational, state school, state secondary school in Bearsden, East Dunbartonshire, Scotland. History Bearsden Cross site (1911–1958) In 1911, the school was situated on the corner of A808 road (Great Britain), R ...

in East Dunbartonshire near Glasgow. Grainger's family later moved to Netherley,

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially differe ...

. Grainger holds a

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of Chi ...

(LLB) from the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...

, a

Master of Philosophy The Master of Philosophy (MPhil; Latin ' or ') is a postgraduate degree. In the United States, an MPhil typically includes a taught portion and a significant research portion, during which a thesis project is conducted under supervision. An MPhil m ...

(MPhil) in Medical Law and Medical Ethics from the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

, and a

Doctor of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

in law from

King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public research university located in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of King George IV and the Duke of Wellington. In 1836, King's ...

. Her doctoral research was supervised by Elaine Player and Ben Bowling. In July 2013 King's made Grainger a fellow. She remarked, "Without planning it both my Olympic career and my PhD have met at the same time and the culmination for both is 2012 – not by design."

Career

Rowing

Grainger took up rowing at the University of Edinburgh in 1993 and represented Edinburgh's St Andrew Boat Club and/or

Marlow Rowing Club Marlow Rowing Club is a rowing club on the River Thames in England, on the southern bank of the Thames at Bisham in Berkshire, opposite the town of Marlow, Buckinghamshire just beside Marlow Bridge and on the reach above Marlow Lock. Founded ...

in rowing events. She trained on the River Dee. She first won silver at Sydney in

in the woman's quadruple sculls with Guin Batten,

Gillian Lindsay Gillian Lindsay (born 24 September 1973, in Paisley) 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 ...

and

Miriam Batten Miriam Batten (born 4 November 1964) is a former British rower who competed at three Olympic Games and winning a silver medal in 2000. Rowing career Miriam was a member of the Southampton University Boat Club whilst she studied at the Universi ...

losing to a German team. Four years later in Athens in 2004, she won silver again when she took part in the coxless pairs with

Cath Bishop Catherine Bishop (born 22 November 1971) is a former British rower. In partnership with Katherine Grainger she was World Champion in the coxless pair in 2003, and in 2004 they won a silver medal at the Olympic Games. Following a career as a dipl ...

, losing to

Georgeta Damian Georgeta Damian (married name Andruanche, born 14 April 1976 in Botoșani) is a female rower from Romania and winner of five Olympic gold medals. She married the rower Valeriu Andrunache in 2006. Damian rowed in the Romanian Women's eight, th ...

and

Viorica Susanu Viorica Susanu (born 29 October 1975 in Galaţi) is a Romanian rower and winner of four Olympic Gold medals. Susanu rowed in the Romanian women's eight that won the World Rowing Championships in 1997, 1998 and 1999, and the 2000 Summer Olympic ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

. She returned to the quadruple sculls in Beijing

, when she won her third silver with

Annabel Vernon Annabel Morwenna Vernon (born 1 September 1982) is a retired British rower. She was born in Truro, Cornwall. She was educated at St Minver Primary School then Wadebridge School, Downing College, Cambridge, and King's College London (MA Inter ...

Debbie Flood Deborah Kirsty Bruwer (née Flood; born 27 February 1980) is an English rower, noteworthy for winning silver medals in the quadruple sculls at both the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games. Biography Flood was born in Harrogate, Yorkshire, and was a Gr ...

and

Frances Houghton Frances Houghton MBE is a 5 time Olympic rower (2000–2016), 4 times World Champion and 3 times Olympic Silver medallist. She now mentors elite athletes and works as a professional chef. Early life Houghton was born in Oxford, and started her ...

, narrowly losing to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

after taking the lead for some of the race. On 3 August 2012, she won an Olympic gold medal at London in the double sculls with Anna Watkins. At the 2016 Olympics, she won a silver medal in double sculls with

Vicky Thornley 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 ...

. Grainger has won eight medals at the World Championships. The first of these was a bronze in 1997 in the eight, then a gold with Bishop in 2003, a gold in 2005 with the quadruple scull, with Houghton,

Sarah Winckless 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. Early life an ...

, and

Rebecca Romero Rebecca Jayne Romero, MBE (born 24 January 1980) 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. Early life and education Romero ...

, and in 2006 her quadruple scull was promoted to gold following a drugs test on the winning Russian crew. This quad had Debbie Flood instead of Romero, who had retired after the 2005 world championships. Another gold came in 2007, again in the quadruple sculls, with Annabel Vernon replacing the injured Sarah Winckless. In 2009, having switched to the single scull after the Beijing Olympics, Grainger claimed a surprise silver at the World Championships in Poland. In 2010, Grainger teamed up with Anna Watkins in the double sculls and they embarked on an unbeaten season, culminating in victory in November in the World Championships in Lake Karapiro, New Zealand, and then defending the title in an injury disrupted season in 2011 in Bled, Slovenia. She has won the Rowing World Cup in the quadruple sculls in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2010 and the double sculls in 2010, 2011 and 2012. On 14 March 2015, Grainger was part of the composite crew that won the

Women's Eights Head of the River Race The Women's Eights Head of the River Race (WEHoRR) is a processional rowing race held annually on the Tideway of the River Thames in London on the Championship Course from Mortlake to Putney. A mirror of the Eights Head of the River for mal ...

on the River Thames in London, setting a time of 18:58.6 for the 4 1⁄4-mile (6.8 km)

championship course The Championship Course is a stretch of the River Thames between Mortlake and Putney in London, England. It is a well-established course for rowing races, particularly the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. The course is on the tidal reaches of th ...

from

Mortlake Mortlake is a suburban district of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames on the south bank of the River Thames between Kew and Barnes. Historically it was part of Surrey and until 1965 was in the Municipal Borough of Barnes. For many centu ...

Putney Putney () is a district of southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ancient paris ...

. Her GB rowing team senior final trials results include: *2015 - 2nd, Single Scull *2012 – 1st, Single Scull *2011 – 2nd, Single Scull *2004–2010 – 1st, Single Scull *2001 – 1st, Double Scull *1998 – 1st, Single Scull Following retirement, Grainger also regularly raced at the

HOCR hOCR is an open standard of data representation for formatted text obtained from optical character recognition (OCR). The definition encodes text, style, layout information, recognition confidence metrics and other information using Extensible Ma ...

in Boston in a 'Director's Challenge Mixed 8' made up of a crew containing several past rowing Olympians and in 2019 they placed 1st in this event.

Administration

In April 2017, Grainger was appointed chair of

. She was reappointed for a second term on 1 July 2021. In March 2015, Grainger was appointed the fourth chancellor of

, at a ceremony joined by her three predecessors,

Shami Chakrabarti Sharmishta "Shami" Chakrabarti, Baroness Chakrabarti, (born 16 June 1969) is a British politician, barrister, and human rights activist. A member of the Labour Party, she served as the director of Liberty, a major advocacy group which promote ...

CBE, Jon Snow and Baroness

Helena Kennedy Helena Ann Kennedy, Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws, KC, FRSA, HonFRSE (born 12 May 1950), is a Scottish barrister, broadcaster, and Labour member of the House of Lords. She was Principal of Mansfield College, Oxford, from 2011 to 2018. Early ...

QC.

Charity work

Grainger is a board member for the Youth Sport Trust, the British Olympic Association's Athlete Commission and is a Patron for Netball Scotland, Winning Scotland, the NCI and Aberlour children's charity. Grainger was previously a board member of International Inspiration (2012-2017), a charity that promoted access to sport, play, and physical exercise for low and middle income families with children around the world. It was the first international development legacy initiative linked to an Olympic and Paralympic Games. International Inspiration's board members included British broadcaster David Davies, former UK government minister

Andrew Mitchell Andrew John Bower Mitchell (born 23 March 1956) is a British politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Sutton Coldfield since 2001. A member of the Conservative Party, Mitchell was previously the MP for Gedling from 1987 to 1 ...

, and Sir

Sebastian Coe Sebastian Newbold Coe, Baron Coe, (born 29 September 1956), often referred to as Seb Coe, is a British politician and former track and field athlete. As a middle-distance runner, Coe won four Olympic medals, including 1500 metres gold medal ...

. In 2014 she judged the category prize 'dreams' for the

Koestler Trust Koestler Arts (formerly The Koestler Trust) is a charity which helps ex-offenders, secure patients and detainees in the UK to express themselves creatively. It promotes the arts in prisons, secure hospitals, immigration centres and in the commun ...

's annual exhibition "Catching Dreams", curated by previous Koestler award entrants. The exhibition at the

Southbank Centre Southbank Centre is a complex of artistic venues in London, England, on the South Bank of the River Thames (between Hungerford Bridge and Waterloo Bridge). It comprises three main performance venues (the Royal Festival Hall including the Nat ...

presented art works by prisoners, detainees and ex-offenders.

Honours and awards

Grainger was elected President of the

Edinburgh University Boat Club Edinburgh University Boat Club (EUBC) is one of the oldest sports clubs of the University of Edinburgh, in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland. Originally started in 1867 it has been going continuously ever since. The annual Edinburgh/Glasgow Boat ...

in 1996/97. She twice received the Edinburgh University Sports Union's Eva Bailey Cup for the university's most outstanding female athlete in 1995/96 and 1996/97 and was inducted to the University's Sports Hall of Fame on 29 May 2008. She was elected as honorary president of the

Scottish Amateur Rowing Association Scottish Rowing (SR), formerly the Scottish Amateur Rowing Association, is the governing body for the sport of rowing in Scotland. It is responsible for promoting the sport in Scotland and also for selecting crews to send to the Home Internatio ...

in November 2005, and a steward of

Henley Royal Regatta Henley Royal Regatta (or Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage) is a rowing event held annually on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. It was established on 26 March 1839. It differs from the thre ...

in 2008, only the third rower to be elected while still competing. She 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 2006 Birthday Honours,

Commander 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 ...

(CBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to rowing, and

Dame Commander 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 ...

(DBE) in the

2017 New Year Honours The 2017 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours were awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

for services to sport and charity. Aberdeen- postbox № AB11 127, Castlegate (geograph 3802274)

In August 2012, a postbox in Aberdeen was painted gold to celebrate her 2012 Olympic gold medal. In March 2013, she became patron of the National Coastwatch Institution. In June 2017, Grainger was awarded an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

by the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Sc ...

. In July 2017, it was announced that trophy awarded to the winners of the Senior Women's competition at the

Home International Regatta The Home International Regatta is a rowing regatta held every year for the countries of the British Isles - England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Events are held for both men and women at junior (under 18) and senior levels, including Para-rowi ...

would be known as Dame Katherine Grainger

Quaich A quaich , archaically quaigh or quoich, is a special kind of shallow two-handled drinking cup or bowl of a type traditional in Scotland. It derives from the Scottish Gaelic (), meaning a cup. History According to the 1911 ''Encyclopædia ...

. The first winners of the trophy were Scotland. In 2020 she was appointed as the Chancellor of the University of Glasgow, in succession to Professor Sir Kenneth Calman. She is the first woman to hold the office at Glasgow University, founded in 1451.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grainger, Katherine 1975 births Living people Scottish female rowers British female rowers Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Olympic rowers of Great Britain Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Olympic medalists in rowing Rowers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Scottish Olympic medallists Alumni of the University of Edinburgh School of Law Alumni of the University of Glasgow Alumni of King's College London Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire Stewards of Henley Royal Regatta People educated at Bearsden Academy Sportspeople from Glasgow World Rowing Championships medalists for Great Britain Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Sporting dames Thomas Keller Medal recipients Fellows of King's College London European Rowing Championships medalists