Pamela Lillian Relph MBE (born 14 November 1989) is a British adaptive rower who won gold medals at the

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

and 2016 Summer Paralympics, thus becoming the first double gold medallist in Paralympic rowing.

Personal life

Relph was born on 14 November 1989 in

Aylesbury Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, South East England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery, David Tugwell`s house on Watermead and the Aylesbury Waterside Theatre, Waterside Theatre. It is in central Buckinghamsh ...

, Buckinghamshire, England. She attended John Colet School, in Wendover, Buckinghamshire, who have named one of their tutor houses after her. She attended the

Welbeck Defence Sixth Form College Welbeck Defence Sixth Form College (stylised as Welbeck – The Defence Sixth Form College), formerly named and often referred to as simply Welbeck College, was an independent, selective sixth form college in Leicestershire, England. While run a ...

on an Army scholarship and planned to join the Royal Engineers as an Engineering Officer. Her army career was ended by

arthritis Arthritis is a term often used to mean any disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, swelling, and decreased range of motion of the affected joints. In some ...

. She studied at the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university located in Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingha ...

and graduated in 2011 with a Bachelor of Science degree in physics. She is the sister of Monica Relph, GB Women's Senior rowing Squad member.

Rowing

Relph was introduced to the sport of rowing in August 2010 by her older sister, who had rowed internationally for Great Britain. In November 2010 she finished second in the British Indoor Rowing Championships. 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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

, Slovenia. She won the gold medal in the Legs Trunk and Arms mixed Coxed Four (LTAMix4+) event alongside crewmates

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 ...

, 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 o ...

, the

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 ** C ...

. 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 meant that Great Britain qualified a boat for 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 ...

in London. The crew repeated their gold medal result at the Munich World Cup event in 2012. She was selected along with Riches, 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 ( ...

in the mixed coxed four event. The event took place from 31 August to 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 ...

, where team GB won the gold medal. The GB LTAM4+ crew retained their World Champions crown in August 2013 at Chungju, South Korea. Relph, along with Riches and new crew members Oliver Hester, James Fox and cox Oliver James, took gold in a time of 3min 16.12sec, ahead of Italy (silver) and South Africa (bronze). In 2014 Relph and crewmates Hester, Fox, James and Grace Clough successfully defended their LTAMxd4+ World Champion status in Amsterdam with the same crew going on to repeat this feat at the 2015 World Championships at Aiguebelette, France, defeating the American crew by.26 of a second in the Final. Victory at Aiguebelette qualified the GB LTAM4+ boat for the Rio de Janeiro Paralympic regatta, where Relph and her crew won Gold, retaining their Paralympic title, in a time of 3 min 17.17 seconds, defeating USA (silver) and Canada (bronze) and making Relph the first Paralympic rower to win two gold medals. Relph 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 ...

(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 celebrati ...

for services to rowing.
Cabinet Office

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Relph, Pam 1984 births Living people English female rowers Sportspeople from Aylesbury Paralympic rowers of Great Britain Rowers at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Rowers at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Alumni of the University of Birmingham Paralympic gold medalists for Great Britain Members of the Order of the British Empire Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics World Rowing Championships medalists for Great Britain Paralympic medalists in rowing

Personal life

Rowing

See also

References