Lily Jacoba van den Broecke (born 8 January 1992) is a British rower who competed at the

2012 Summer Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Gam ...

as the

coxswain The coxswain ( , or ) is the person in charge of a boat, particularly its navigation and steering. The etymology of the word gives a literal meaning of "boat servant" since it comes from ''cock'', referring to the cockboat, a type of ship's boa ...

in the mixed coxed four for Great Britain, and won the gold medal.

Personal life

Lily van den Broecke was born on 8 January 1992 in Lambeth, England. She is tall and weighed when she competed. She went to primary school at St Thomas' CE in Winchelsea East Sussex and moved to Oxford for secondary school. She was a student at Durham University, belonging to

University College, Durham , motto_English = Not for ourselves alone , scarf = , established = , principal = Wendy Powers , vice_principal = Ellen Crabtree , undergraduates = 698 , postgraduates = 153 , coordinates = , location_map = Durham , map_size ...

more commonly known as Castle. Lily studied for a Bachelor of Arts degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. She now works at the British Film Institute in London and has a keen interest in film, art, and aesthetics. Lily maintains a fondness for classical music and spends much, if not most, of her spare time composing hymns for the recorder.

Rowing

She began rowing when she attended Headington School, Oxford. After competing in sculling for four years she tried out as a

cox Cox may refer to: * Cox (surname), including people with the name Companies * Cox Enterprises, a media and communications company ** Cox Communications, cable provider ** Cox Media Group, a company that owns television and radio stations ** ...

. In 2009, she coxed the junior women's eight crew to fourth place at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival and a gold medal at the

Coupe de la Jeunesse The Coupe de la Jeunesse is an international rowing regatta rowed over 2,000 m every year. It was founded in 1985 and is open to rowers who are 18 or under by the end of the current calendar year. It is a two-day team event, with points award ...

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

, France. In 2010, she won a gold medal coxing the junior women's eight at the

World Rowing Junior Championships The World Rowing Junior Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by FISA (the International Rowing Federation). A rower or coxswain shall be classified as a Junior until 31 December of the year in which he reaches the age of ...

in Račice, Czech Republic. This was the first ever junior women's gold medal for the Great Britain Rowing Team. In 2011, she competed at the

World Rowing Championships The World Rowing Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by FISA (the International Rowing Federation). It is a week-long event held at the end of the northern hemisphere summer and in non-Olympic years is the highlight of th ...

held at Lake Bled,

Bled Bled (; german: Veldes,''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 146. in older sources also ''Feldes'') is a town on Lake Bled in the Upper C ...

, Slovenia. She won a gold medal in the LTAMix4+ event coxing a crew of

Pam Relph Pamela Lillian Relph MBE (born 14 November 1989) is a British adaptive rower who won gold medals at the 2012 and 2016 Summer Paralympics, thus becoming the first double gold medallist in Paralympic rowing. Personal life Relph was ...

Naomi Riches Naomi Joy Riches MBE (born on 15 June 1983) is a British adaptive rower who won a bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Paralympics and a gold medal at the 2012 Summer Paralympics. Personal life Riches was born on 15 June 1983 in Hammersmith, Lon ...

, James Roe and David Smith. They completed the one kilometre course in a time of three minutes, 27.10 seconds, finishing nearly five seconds ahead of runners-up Canada. The result qualified a boat for Great Britain into the

in London. The crew repeated their gold medal result at the Munich World Cup event in 2012. She was selected to cox the crew of

, James Roe and David Smith in the mixed coxed four event for Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Paralympics. The event took place between 31 August and 2 September at

Eton Dorney Dorney Lake (also known as Eton College Rowing Centre, and as Eton Dorney as a 2012 Summer Olympics venue) is a purpose-built rowing lake in England. It is near the village of Dorney, Buckinghamshire, and is around 3 km (2 miles) west of ...

in Buckinghamshire, and the GB crew won the gold medal. 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

2013 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2013 were 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 are awarded as part of the New Year celebrat ...

for services to rowing and Paralympic sport.
Cabinet Office

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Van den Broecke, Lily 1992 births Living people People from Lambeth English female rowers Rowers at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Paralympic rowers of Great Britain Rowers from Greater London Alumni of University College, Durham Paralympic gold medalists for Great Britain Members of the Order of the British Empire Coxswains (rowing) Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics World Rowing Championships medalists for Great Britain Durham University Boat Club rowers Paralympic medalists in rowing

Personal life

Rowing

See also

References