Rebecca Jayne Romero, MBE (born 24 January 1980) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

sportswoman, a former World Champion and

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

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 a ...

, 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 around southwest of Charing Cross and around east by north of Sutton town centre, in the valley of the Rive ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, 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. Admissions It is a grammar school, with Tracey O'Brien as the Headmaster since September 2023. The school is in Woodcote Green ...

. 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 A silver medal, in sports and other similar areas involving competition, is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, ...

at the

Athens 2004 Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

in the

quadruple sculls A quadruple sculling boat, often simply called a quad and abbreviated as a 4x, is a racing shell 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 han ...

, 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 as a 4x, is a racing shell 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 h ...

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 is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

– 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 represent ...

. 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 and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, 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 Oly ...

), 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 women. The riders start at the same time and set off to complete the rac ...

in Beijing. In winning the gold, she also became only the second woman of any country (after Roswitha Krause and

Christa Luding-Rothenburger Christa Luding-Rothenburger ( Rothenburger, born 4 December 1959) is a former speed skater and track cyclist. She was born in Weißwasser, East Germany. Luding is one of the few athletes who have competed in both the Summer and Winter Olympic ...

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 in 1988 and distributed by the Coca-Cola Company. Its primary competitor is Gatorade, which is owned by PepsiCo since 2001. History Powerade was created by the Coca-Cola Company and first released in 1988. Th ...

sports drink in the run up to the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

. 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 valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two 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 The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

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

John O'Groats John o' Groats () is a village 2.5 mi (4 km) north-east of Canisbay, in the historic county of Caithness, Scotland. It lies on Scotland's north-eastern tip and is popular with tourists. The northernmost point of mainland Scotland is n ...

with

James Cracknell James Edward Cracknell, (born 5 May 1972) is a British rowing and endurance athlete, double Olympic gold medalist and winner of six world championship titles. Cracknell was appointed OBE for "services to sport" in the 2005 New Year Honours ...

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 sportsperson, athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial (TT) against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athle ...

Levens, Cumbria Levens is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Westmorland and Furness, Cumbria. It lies within the historic county of Westmorland. In the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 census the parish had a population of 1,007, increas ...

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 sport governing body, governing body for cycle sport in United Kingdom, Great Britain. It administers most competitive cycling in Great Britain, the Channel Islands a ...

'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 An Ironman 70.3, also known as a Half Ironman, is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organized by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC). The "70.3" refers to the total distance in miles (113.0 km) covered in the race, consisting ...

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

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

and the Ironman UK event in

Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...

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 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

–

Silver, Quadruple sculls (with Frances Houghton,

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 Grea ...

, 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 U, or u, is the twenty-first letter and the fifth vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet and the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''u'' (pronounced ), ...

:1999 – 4th, Single sculls :2000 – Gold, Coxless pairs

Cycling

: Time Trial Champion (Cycling)

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

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

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

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 Track cycling is a Cycle sport, bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked tracks or velodromes using purpose-d ...

: 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 ...

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

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

References

External links

* *
Profile on

{{DEFAULTSORT:Romero, Rebecca English people of Spanish descent Cyclists at the 2008 Summer Olympics English female rowers English Olympic competitors Olympic cyclists for Great Britain Olympic rowers for 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 gold 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 British female cyclists People from Carshalton Cyclists from the London Borough of Sutton 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 British track cyclists Alumni of Richmond upon Thames College 21st-century English sportswomen

Early life and education

Rowing

Cycling

Beijing Olympics

Post-Beijing

Achievements

Rowing

Cycling

See also

References

External links