Lauren Rowles MBE is the most
determined and driven individual I have ever had the pleasure to meet or heard
speak.
Lauren grew up in the Midlands and was
a natural sportsperson, she found herself captain of the netball, athletics and rugby
teams. She had ambitions of greatness within a sporting arena. One day, she
went to bed a 13-year-old dreaming of the next school match and woke up being paralysed
from the waist down. She was left worried and confused due to the lack of
knowledge of what had happened to her. She was diagnosed with Tranverse
Myelitis, which happens to about one in one million people. It is an inflation
of the spinal cord.
She described how she went through some dark times -
times of deep depression and sadness. She became isolated from the outside
world as she did not want to leave the safety of her room. Then, her mum took
her to London 2012 and Lauren started to become motivated again. She took up
wheelchair athletics and by the age of 16 she was the fastest athlete of her
age in the whole of the UK. This had brought Lauren back from the brink. It
also shows that everyone needs their 'person' and her mum is an absolute
legend.
Lauren was then invited to try rowing
by one of the British coaches. Initially, she thought that this was a waste of
time but when she boarded she had an overwhelming feeling of freedom. She
remembers an image of being able to leave the wheelchair
behind and the feeling of complete freedom on the water. Lauren described the important role of
her mother - not only taking her to London 2012 - but also waking up at 4am to
drive her to Reading for training. She would wait in the car and then drive her
back to Birmingham, while Lauren slept. She was then partnered with Laurence
Whiteley and entered into qualifying for the World Championships. It was such a tight timeline
that this was the first race the two rowers had ever competed in. She described the
adrenaline that she experienced and that she wanted to leave nothing on the
line. They qualified. The feeling of success became addictive. They amazingly
won silver in the Trunk Arms Mixed Doubles and this motivated Lauren to train
even harder for Rio.
At Rio 2016, Lauren remembers
reminiscing about what had happened to her and she used this to motivate her
even further. In the heats, they were drawn against the current Olympic
champions, the World Championship winner and the world record holders. They
were up against it. They finished in first and broke the world record! They had
made the final. On the day of the final, Lauren stated that she was nervous but
extremely excited. Partnered by Laurence, they gave everything and she
described that she had never hurt so much but they finished first and were
crowned gold medallists.
Her life story was truly a pleasure to
listen to. At only 19, she had been paralysed, won a gold medal, been awarded
an MBE and is studying Law at University. She is just recovering from an injury
but is looking forward to training for the next Olympics.
Lauren is definitely one in a million.
I got to hold her medal. It was super heavy and I was fascinated that when you give it a shake it rattles and this is so the visually impaired athletes can tell what colour their medal is.
