Frances Houghton

Frances Houghton is a former British rower who mentors elite athletes and works as a professional chef.

Early life Houghton was born in Oxford, and started her rowing at the Dragon School, before moving on to The King's School, Canterbury, making her Junior International debut in 1995. She graduated from King's College London in 2003 with a BA in Hispanic Studies, having taken a sabbatical to prepare for the Olympic Games in Sydney.

Rowing career Houghton was the first British woman to be selected for five Olympic Games in rowing and retired on the Olympic podium in 2016 as part of the first British Women's Eight to win an Olympic medal, and as the longest-serving member of the British Rowing Team.

In 1999 Houghton and Flood won Gold in the Double sculls at the World Under 23 Championships, Britain's first sculling medal at this level.

In February she became the World Junior Indoor Rowing Champion at the championships in Boston, USA.

In 2016 Competing in her 5th Olympic Games at Rio, Houghton won a silver medal in the Women's Eight.

Having retired from competitive rowing in 2016, Houghton was awarded an MBE in the 2018 New Years Honours List for 'services to rowing'.

In 2021, Houghton published Learnings From Five Olympic Games, a book exploring her 21 year rowing career.

Professional chef Houghton took time out of her sporting career in 2009 to train as a Chef at Ballymaloe Cookery School in Ireland.