Laurence Whiteley (born 29 August 1991) is a British parasport rower. He won gold with

Lauren Rowles Lauren Rachel Catherine Rowles, (born 24 April 1998) is a British parasport rower and former wheelchair athlete. She won gold with Laurence Whiteley in the trunk-arms mixed double sculls (TAMix2x) at the 2016 Summer Paralympics.The pair repe ...

in the trunk-arms mixed double sculls (TAMix2x) at the

2016 Summer Paralympics The 2016 Summer Paralympics (), the 15th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for disabled sports, athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, fro ...

Background

Whiteley, who is from

Northallerton Northallerton ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Hambleton District of North Yorkshire, England. It lies in the Vale of Mowbray and at the northern end of the Vale of York. It had a population of 16,832 in the 2011 census, an increa ...

, North Yorkshire, attended Hurworth House School and Polam Hall School. He competed in

triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the ...

s as a youth and was the

British Triathlon The British Triathlon Federation (formerly the British Triathlon Association) is the national governing body for triathlon, duathlon and associated multisport in Great Britain. It administers triathlon in England, Scotland, Wales, the Channel ...

regional champion for the 13–14 age group. In 2006 at the age of 14 he was diagnosed with

osteosarcoma An osteosarcoma (OS) or osteogenic sarcoma (OGS) (or simply bone cancer) is a cancerous tumor in a bone. Specifically, it is an aggressive malignant neoplasm that arises from primitive transformed cells of mesenchymal origin (and thus a sarcoma ...

(a form of bone cancer) below his right knee, and was given only a 30% chance of survival by doctors. He had surgery to remove the tumour, during which his knee joint and part of his

fibula The fibula or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. Its upper extremity i ...

were removed, and further surgery to replace the joint and insert

titanium Titanium is a chemical element with the Symbol (chemistry), symbol Ti and atomic number 22. Found in nature only as an oxide, it can be reduced to produce a lustrous transition metal with a silver color, low density, and high strength, resista ...

rods into his leg. He also had

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs ( chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemothe ...

over an 11-month period. He learned to walk again after a year of physiotherapy.

Career

After his recovery Whiteley initially competed as a swimmer, and was national junior champion at 50 m freestyle in the S10 classification. He took up rowing in 2011 at the

Tees Rowing Club Tees Rowing Club is a rowing club based on the River Tees in Northeast England. The club was founded in 1864. The Roll of Honour at the club includes 2012 Olympic Gold medal winner Kat Copeland and 2016 Paralympic Gold medal winner Laurence W ...

, initially competing in the non-Paralympic trunk-arms men's single scull category. Since 2014 he has trained with the national squad in Caversham, Berkshire. After searching for over two years for a suitable partner to compete with in Paralympic double sculls, Whiteley teamed up with

, a former

wheelchair racer Wheelchair racing is the racing of wheelchairs in track and road races. Wheelchair racing is open to athletes with any qualifying type of disability, amputees, spinal cord injuries, cerebral palsy and partially sighted (when combined with another ...

who had recently switched to rowing, in early 2015. Their first major championship together was the

2015 World Rowing Championships The 2015 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 30 August to 6 September 2015 at Lac d'Aiguebelette, Aiguebelette in France. Description The annual week-long rowing regatta was organized by FISA (the ...

, where they won the silver medal in the TAMix2x trunk-arms mixed double sculls. At the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio, they set a world record in the heats and went on to win gold in the final.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Whiteley, Laurence 1991 births Living people Paralympic gold medalists for Great Britain Rowers at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Rowers at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics World Rowing Championships medalists for Great Britain People from Northallerton Sportspeople from Scarborough, North Yorkshire Members of the Order of the British Empire Paralympic medalists in rowing Paralympic rowers of Great Britain