Sense Awards 2024: Celebrity of the Year

Lauren Rowles

Lauren smiles as she pretends to bite her gold medal
Credit: British Rowing, Photographer Benedict Tufnell

Lauren Rowles made history this summer by becoming the first Paralympian to win a rowing gold at three Games – in 2016, 2020 and 2024.

After her latest victory, alongside Gregg Stevenson in Paris, Lauren admitted the training programme was her hardest ever. She said: “We want to win and we want to make history, so you sacrifice more and more.”  
 
Lauren was first inspired to get into sport while watching the 2012 Paralympics after becoming disabled earlier that year at the age of 13 through a spinal cord injury.   
 
Lauren is engaged to Jude Hamer, a Paralympian basketball player. Jude gave birth to their son Noah in March, and training for the Paralympics meant Lauren needed to spend a month apart from them.

She described winning as both “the best feeling in the world” and “what an achievement for us as a family”. 

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