Katherine Grainger

Biography of Aberdeen Rower Katherine Grainger MBE and her Olympic gold medal wins and awards:

Katherine Grainger was born in Glasgow on 11 December 1975. Her family moved to Netherley, Aberdeenshire and she represents Aberdeen in rowing events. She trained on the River Dee and this has the kudos of being the only river she has fallen into whilst training! An accolade that followed her to the rowing gold medal at the London Olympics 2012.


She began rowing whilst studying a PT PHD at Edinburgh University in 1993.


In 1996 and 1997 she was awarded the Eva Bailey Edinburgh University Trophy for the most outstanding female athlete.


Her debut sculling event was in 1997 where she won bronze.




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Gold Medal Rower

Katherine Grainer and her rowing partner Anna Watkins won the gold medal in the 2012 London Olympic Games for the double sculls event with a time of 6 minutes and 55.82 seconds.

A parade took place in Aberdeen on Sunday 16 September 2012 for our gold medal rower and fellow Olympians. Olympic and Paralympic competitors from the area paraded in an open top bus down Union Street via Golden Square where the specially painted gold post box for Neil Fachie was located. These included Katherine Grainger and fellow gold medallists Tim Baillie and Neil Fachie. They were also joined by Hannah Miley, Jennifer McIntosh, Lora Turnham and Robbie Renwick. The bus was piped by the Portlethen and District Pipe Band. The athletes then went to Westhill and Haddo House in Ellon.

She was awarded the inspirational performance of the year at the Sunday Mail sports awards 2012 and in the New Year's Honour list of 2013 she was awarded the CBE.

Anna Watkins

Katherine Grainger was awarded the British Olympic Association Trophy 2010 with Anna Watkins, her double scull partner

Olympic Medals

She was the first British woman to hold two World titles. She also holds one Olympic Gold and two silver medals.




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World Rowing Championship

At the World Rowing Championship at Lake Karapiro in New Zealand Katherine Grainger and Anna Watkins won gold for Britain in the double scull event.

In 2000 she won silver for the quadruple sculls making her the first women to receive an Olympic rowing medal.


In 2003 she won World Pairs Champion with Cath Bishop.

In May 2006 her team won gold In the World Cup Games in Munich - Oberschiessheim, Germany. She led the British quadruple scull team of Debbie Flood, Frances Houghton and Sarah Winckless with Katherine Grainger as the stroke. This win led to Britain winning the World Cup.

Katherine Grainger MBE

In June 2006 she was honoured with an MBE in the Queen's 80th Birthday Honours List. Katherine Grainger collected her MBE in November from the Princess Royal, Her Royal Highness Princess Anne at Buckingham Palace. Sadly the Queen had a bad back.

She now lives and trains near Marlow in Buckinghamshire though comes home to Aberdeenshire regularly.

In August 2006 she will defend her World Rowing Championship Title at Eton. This is the first time the competition has been held in the UK for 20 years.


She has a master's degree in medical law and is currently studying for a PhD in homicide and psychopathy.

More Scottish Sports Women.



Single Sculls Event

In May 2009 she won in the single scull event in Banyoles, Spain during the World Cup regatta.

Beijing Olympic Games 2008

She represented Great Britain in the Beijing Olympic Games 2008 along with team mates Annie Vernon, Deborah Flood and Frances Houghton in the final of the women's quadruple sculls on Sunday 17 August 2008. They were awarded the silver medal after the Chinese rowers made a last second comeback. This makes her the first British woman to win medals from three consecutive Olympic Games.

Upon her return to the UK she was a guest at a reception held at the Great Hall in Edinburgh Castle that was held for the Scottish Olympic medal winners and their families. Katherine Grainger was recognised for winning her third consecutive silver medal in three consecutive Olympic Games. Others in attendance included Chris Hoy the Scottish cyclist who won three gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

They were piped into the Great Hall for the Edinburgh Castle reception by the Mains of Fintry Pipe Band from Dundee who performed at the opening ceremony. They were greeted by the First Minister, Mr Alex Salmond.



She will compete in the single sculls event, representing Britain, in the World Cup regattas in Barcelona 2009 in the Banyoles course.