Lauren Rowles

Lauren Rachel Catherine Rowles (born 24 April 1998) is a British parasport rower and former wheelchair athlete. She won gold with Laurence Whiteley in the trunk-arms mixed double sculls (TAMix2x) at the 2016 Summer Paralympics.The pair repeated their achievement in Tokyo at the 2021 Summer Paralympics.

Background Rowles, who is from Cofton Hackett, Bromsgrove District, attended North Bromsgrove High School. At the age of 13 she suddenly developed transverse myelitis (a condition in which the spinal cord is inflamed), which left her with no feeling below her chest. She decided to take up Paralympic sport while watching coverage of the 2012 Summer Paralympics during a stay in Stoke Mandeville Spinal Injuries Unit. and is currently studying law at Oxford Brookes University. She is openly gay. Rowles is engaged to Jude, a wheelchair basketball player.

Career Rowles competed as a wheelchair racer before switching to rowing. She took up the sport in November 2012 and competed in T54 events. where she was the youngest track and field athlete in the England team at the age of 16.

Rowles took up rowing in early 2015. They competed at the 2015 World Rowing Championships, winning the silver medal in the trunk-arms mixed double sculls. She and Whiteley competed at their first Paralympics in 2016, where they set a world record in the heats, and won gold in the final.

Rowles was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours and Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2025 New Year Honours for services to rowing.