Inspirational People - Lauren Rowles

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.