Rebecca Jayne Romero,

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 24 January 1980) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

sportswoman, a former World Champion and

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

silver medallist at

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically ...

, and a former World champion and an Olympic champion

track cyclist Track cycling is a bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked tracks or velodromes using purpose-designed track bicycles. History Track cycling has been around since at least 1870. When track cycling was in its infancy, it wa ...

Early life and education

Romero was born in

Carshalton Carshalton () is a town, with a historic village centre, in south London, England, within the London Borough of Sutton. It is situated south-southwest of Charing Cross, in the valley of the River Wandle, one of the sources of which is Carshalto ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, of an English mother and Spanish father, and brought up in Wallington, London where she attended

Wallington High School for Girls Wallington High School for Girls is an all-girls selective grammar school in the London Borough of Sutton, England, specialising in STEM subjects and Languages. Admissions It is a grammar school, with Richard Booth as the Headmaster since Septem ...

. Her success in rowing and cycling has meant that she was funded as a full-time athlete since graduating from university.

Rowing

Romero has won world championships in both cycling and rowing; as a rower, she won a silver medal at the Athens 2004 Olympics in the quadruple sculls, and the following year was part of the British crew that won the 2005 World Championships in the

quad scull A quadruple sculling boat, often simply called a quad and abbreviated 4x, is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four people who propel the boat by sculling with two oars, or "sculls", one in each hand. R ...

s. Suffering from a persistent back injury, Romero retired from rowing in 2006.

Cycling

Romero later took up track cycling, and made rapid progress in her new sport, specialising in track endurance events. In December 2006, Romero won a silver medal in the pursuit at the UCI Track World Cup event in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

– her international cycling debut – losing out to fellow Briton

Wendy Houvenaghel Wendy Louise Houvenaghel (née McLean; born 27 November 1974) is a Northern Irish former racing cyclist from Upperlands, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, riding on both the road and track, but specialising in the latter. She has represente ...

. Romero won her first Cycling World Championships medal in March 2007 with silver in the 3 km pursuit. The following year, at the

2008 UCI Track Cycling World Championships The 2008 UCI Track Cycling World Championships were the World Championship for track cycling. They took place at the Manchester Velodrome in Manchester, United Kingdom from 26 to 30 March 2008. Eighteen events were scheduled; the women's team pur ...

, held in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, she won the individual and, (with Houvenaghel and

Joanna Rowsell Joanna Katie Rowsell MBE (born 5 December 1988) is a retired English cyclist on the Great Britain Cycling Team who competed on track and road. Her greatest successes were the gold medals won in the women's team pursuit at the 2012 London Olym ...

), team pursuit events.

Beijing Olympics

She became the first British woman ever to compete in two different sports at the

when she rode in the

individual pursuit The individual pursuit is a track cycling event where two cyclists begin the race from a stationary position on opposite sides of the track. It is held at over for men and for women. The riders start at the same time and set off to complete the ...

in Beijing. In winning the gold, she also became only the second woman of any country (after Roswitha Krause of East Germany) to win a medal in two different sports at Summer Games. Romero appeared nude on her bicycle in an advert for

Powerade Powerade is a sports drink created, manufactured and marketed by The Coca-Cola Company. Its primary competitor is Gatorade, owned by PepsiCo. History In 1988, Powerade became the official sports drink of the Olympics, alongside Aquarius, ano ...

sports drink in the run up to the 2008 Summer Olympics. Romero 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 2009 New Year Honours.

Post-Beijing

Romero was expected to return to track cycling in October 2009 but did not return amid speculation that the individual pursuit would be dropped from the Olympic programme. It was announced in December 2009 that the event was to be dropped, meaning Romero was unable to defend her title at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She condemned the decision to drop the event as "ludicrous" but seemed set to make a further change of events by switching to the road time trial. In August 2009 she attempted the 874-mile non-stop mixed tandem bicycle record attempt from

Land's End Land's End ( kw, Penn an Wlas or ''Pedn an Wlas'') is a headland and tourist and holiday complex in western Cornwall, England, on the Penwith peninsula about west-south-west of Penzance at the western end of the A30 road. To the east of it is ...

to John O'Groats with

James Cracknell James Edward Cracknell, (born 5 May 1972) is a British athlete, rowing champion and double Olympic gold medalist. Cracknell was appointed OBE for "services to sport" in the 2005 New Year Honours List. Biography Cracknell began rowing whilst ...

but had to give up at more than half way due to a knee injury. She planned to race in a

time trial In many racing sports, an athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athlete or team sets off at ...

Levens, Cumbria Levens is a village and civil parish in the South Lakeland district of the modern English county of Cumbria. It lies within the historic county of Westmorland. In the 2001 census the parish had a population of 1,007, increasing at the 2011 c ...

on 13 August 2011. She also raced in the British Time Trial Championships on 4 September 2011 finishing 4th overall. In October 2011 Romero announced that she was withdrawing from

British Cycling British Cycling (formerly the British Cycling Federation) is the main national governing body for cycle sport in Great Britain. It administers most competitive cycling in Great Britain, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It represents Bri ...

's Olympic Programme and that she would not be competing in the 2012 Olympics. She subsequently confirmed that she would compete in the Ironman 70.3

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 ...

in Mallorca and the Ironman UK event in

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th ...

in 2012 and the

2012 Ironman World Championship The 2012 Ironman World Championship was a long distance triathlon competition held on October 13, 2012 in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. The championship won by Pete Jacobs of Australia and Leanda Cave of England. It was the 36th such Ironman Triathlon Wo ...

. Romero has set up Romero Performance, a sports performance consultancy organisation, which launched in January 2013.

Achievements

Rowing

;

: 2004 –

Silver, Quadruple sculls (with

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 ...

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 ...

, Alison Mowbray) ;

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

:2001 – 5th, Quadruple sculls :2002 – 5th, Quadruple sculls :2003 – 4th, Double sculls :2005 – Gold, Quadruple sculls (with Katherine Grainger, Frances Houghton, Sarah Winkless) ; U23 World Championships :1999 – 4th, Single sculls :2000 – Gold, Coxless pairs

Cycling

: Time Trial Champion (Cycling) 2006 :UCI Track World Cups: 2 Silver Medals (Moscow & Manchester) : 2007 World Championships – Silver, 3 km Pursuit : National 3 km Pursuit Champion (Cycling) 2007 :

2007–08 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics The 2007–2008 UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics was a multi race competition over a season of track cycling. The season began on 30 November 2007 and ended on 17 February 2008. The World Cup is organised by the UCI. The 2007–2008 se ...

: Gold individual pursuit Copenhagen : 2008 World Championships – Gold, 3 km Pursuit : 2008 World Championships – Gold,

Team Pursuit The team pursuit is a track cycling event similar to the individual pursuit, except that two teams, each of up to four riders, compete, starting on opposite sides of the velodrome. Race format Both men's and women's events are competed over ...

: 2008 Summer Olympics Gold medal olympic

Gold, Individual Pursuit : 4th British National Time Trial Championships (Cycling) 2011

References

External links

* *
Profile on

{{DEFAULTSORT:Romero, Rebecca English people of Spanish descent Cyclists at the 2008 Summer Olympics English female rowers English Olympic medallists Olympic cyclists of Great Britain Olympic rowers of Great Britain Olympic gold medallists for Great Britain Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Rowers at the 2004 Summer Olympics 1980 births Living people Members of the Order of the British Empire Olympic medalists in cycling Olympic medalists in rowing Alumni of the University of Surrey People educated at Wallington High School for Girls Alumni of St Mary's University, Twickenham English female cyclists People from Carshalton UCI Track Cycling World Champions (women) Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Members of Leander Club Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics World Rowing Championships medalists for Great Britain English track cyclists Alumni of Richmond upon Thames College

Early life and education

Rowing

Cycling

Beijing Olympics

Post-Beijing

Achievements

Rowing

Cycling

See also

References

External links