Naomi Joy Riches

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 on 15 June 1983) is a British adaptive rower who won a bronze medal at the

2008 Summer Paralympics The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was ...

and a gold medal 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 ...

Personal life

Riches was born on 15 June 1983 in

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. ...

, London, England. She attended Cannon Lane school as a child. She is registered blind and is classified for competition in the B3 category. She competed for Harrow in the

London Youth Games The London Youth Games is an annual multi-sport event held in London, England. The London Youth Games offer competitive opportunities for young people aged 7 to 18 (who live or go to school in London) across approximately 30 sports every year. T ...

as a disability swimmer. At the age of 12 she was a National Disabled Swimming champion. She attended the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) College in Worcester. She graduated from

Buckinghamshire New University , mottoeng = By Art and Industry , established = 2007 – gained university status 1891 – Science and Art School , type = Public , staff = , chancellor = Jay Blades , vice_chancellor = Nick Braisby , st ...

with a Bachelor of Arts degree in metalwork and jewellery design. Riches currently works for a psychometric assessment provider as a sport and education consultant.

Rowing

Riches took up rowing whilst at the RNIB College in Worcester. She competes in the legs, trunks and arms adaptive mixed coxed four (LTAMix4+) event. She won gold medals in the event at the 2004, 2005 and 2006

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 the ...

and won silver in 2007. She was selected to represent Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Paralympics held in Beijing, China, as rowing made its debut at the Games. Competing with

Alastair McKean Alistair is a masculine given name. It is an Anglicised form of the Scottish Gaelic ''Alasdair''. The latter is most likely a Scottish Gaelic variant of the Norman French Alexandre or Latin Alexander, which was incorporated into English in the sa ...

Vicki Hansford Vicki Hansford (born 31 October 1979) is a retired British Paralympic rower who competed in international level events. She was also a track athlete at national level. Hansford lost her right leg due to sarcoma A sarcoma is a malignant tu ...

, and James Morgan, along with

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she won a bronze medal in the mixed coxed four. David Smith, Naomi Riches

Riches won a further world title in 2009, alongside Hansford, David Smith, James Roe and cox Rhiannon Jones. At the 2010 World Championships she won a silver medal competing with Smith, Roe,

Ryan Chamberlain Ryan Kelly Chamberlain II is an American media and political consultant, who worked on the campaign of Gavin Newsom in his run for mayor of San Francisco. He was the subject of a nationwide FBI search beginning May 31, 2014, after evidence of ex ...

and Jones. He is visually impaired. In 2011, she competed at the

held at

Lake Bled Lake Bled ( sl, Blejsko jezero; german: Bleder See, Veldeser See) is a lake in the Julian Alps of the Upper Carniolan region of northwestern Slovenia, where it adjoins the town of Bled. The area is a tourist destination. The lake is from Ljublj ...

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 the gold medal in the LTAMix4+ event alongside crewmates

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 b ...

, David Smith, James Roe and

Lily van den Broecke Lily Jacoba van den Broecke (born 8 January 1992) is a British rower who competed at the 2012 Summer Paralympics as the coxswain in the mixed coxed four for Great Britain, and won the gold medal. Personal life Lily van den Broecke was born on ...

, the cox. They completed the one kilometre course in a time of three minutes, 27.10 seconds, finishing nearly five seconds ahead of the second placed Canadian boat. 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. Riches was selected along with Relph, Smith, Roe and van den Broeke, to represent

Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...

in the mixed coxed four event. 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 Wi ...

, and the GB crew won the gold medal. She was inducted into the

London Youth Games Hall of Fame The Balfour Beatty London Youth Games Hall of Fame was created in 2009 to recognise former London Youth Games competitors who have gone on to world class sporting careers and to celebrate the role the Games have had in their development. Since it ...

in 2012. Riches 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 rowing.
Cabinet Office In 2016, she became the first woman to row the length of the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

. She completed this in less than 48 hours, as she had hoped (six seconds less exactly).

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Riches, Naomi 1983 births Living people English female rowers Members of the Order of the British Empire People from Hammersmith Paralympic rowers of Great Britain Paralympic gold medalists for Great Britain Paralympic bronze medalists for Great Britain Rowers at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Rowers at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Alumni of the Royal National College for the Blind Alumni of Buckinghamshire New University Medalists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics World Rowing Championships medalists for Great Britain Paralympic medalists in rowing

Personal life

Rowing

See also

References

External links