Кэтрин Грейнджер: от олимпийской чемпионки до руководителя спорта и юриста.

British rower
the doctor and patient care campaigner

Dame Katherine Jane Grainger (born 12 November 1975) is a British former rower and current Chair of UK Sport. She is a 2012 Summer Olympics gold medallist, four time Olympic silver medallist and six time World Champion. She served as Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University between 2015 and 2020, and is currently Chancellor of the University of Glasgow. Grainger first won silver at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 in the woman's quadruple sculls. In Athens in 2004, she won silver in the coxless pairs. In Beijing 2008 she won her third silver, again in the quadruple sculls. At the London Olympics 2012, Anna Watkins and Grainger broke the Olympic record as they qualified for the double sculls final, before winning the gold medal. Grainger won a silver medal at the Rio Olympic Games 2016 with Victoria Thornley, after a two year break from the sport. Grainger has won eight medals at the World Championship between 1997 and 2011.

Born in Glasgow in 1975, she attended Mosshead Primary School prior to attending Bearsden Academy in East Dunbartonshire near Glasgow. Grainger's family later moved to Netherley, Aberdeenshire. Grainger holds a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from the University of Edinburgh, a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in Medical Law and Medical Ethics from the University of Glasgow, and a Doctor of Philosophy in law from King's College London. Her doctoral research (on "the genesis and challenges of the whole life order, introduced in the Criminal Justice Act 2003, under which those sentenced face life long incarceration with no possibility release") was supervised by Elaine Player and Ben Bowling. She remarked, "Without planning it both my Olympic career and my PhD have met at the same time and the culmination for both is 2012 – not by design."

In April 2017, Grainger was appointed chair of UK Sport. She was reappointed for a second term on 1 July 2021. In March 2015, Grainger was appointed the fourth chancellor of Oxford Brookes University, at a ceremony joined by her three predecessors, Shami Chakrabarti CBE, Jon Snow and Baroness Helena Kennedy QC.

Grainger is a board member for the Youth Sport Trust, the British Olympic Association's Athlete Commission and is a Patron for Netball Scotland, Winning Scotland, the NCI and Aberlour children's charity. Grainger was previously a board member of International Inspiration (2012 2017), a charity that promoted access to sport, play, and physical exercise for low and middle income families with children around the world. It was the first international development legacy initiative linked to an Olympic and Paralympic Games. International Inspiration's board members included British broadcaster David Davies, former UK government minister Andrew Mitchell, and Sir Sebastian Coe. In 2014 she judged the category prize 'dreams' for the Koestler Trust's annual exhibition "Catching Dreams", curated by previous Koestler award entrants. The exhibition at the Southbank Centre presented art works by prisoners, detainees and ex offenders.

Grainger was elected President of the Edinburgh University Boat Club in 1996/97. She twice received the Edinburgh University Sports Union's Eva Bailey Cup for the university's most outstanding female athlete in 1995/96 and 1996/97 and was inducted to the University's Sports Hall of Fame on 29 May 2008. She was elected as honorary president of the Scottish Amateur Rowing Association in November 2005, and a steward of Henley Royal Regatta in 2008, only the third rower to be elected while still competing. She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2006 Birthday Honours, Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to rowing, and Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to sport and charity. In August 2012, a postbox in Aberdeen was painted gold to celebrate her 2012 Olympic gold medal. In March 2013, she became patron of the National Coastwatch Institution. In June 2017, Grainger was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Aberdeen. In July 2017, it was announced that the trophy awarded to the winners of the Senior Women's competition at the Home International Regatta would be known as Dame Katherine Grainger Quaich. The first winners of the trophy were Scotland. In 2020 she was appointed as the Chancellor of the University of Glasgow, in succession to Professor Sir Kenneth Calman. She is the first woman to hold the office at Glasgow University, founded in 1451. In January 2024 she was appointed an Honorary Colonel of the 215 (Scottish) Multirole Medical Regiment, Army Reserve.