Anna Watkins
MBE, PhD
Personal information
Birth nameAnna Rose Bebington
Full nameAnna Rose Watkins
Nationality United Kingdom
Born (1983-02-13) 13 February 1983
Leek, Staffordshire, England
Home townWokingham, Berkshire, England
EducationNatural Sciences
Alma materNewnham College, Cambridge
OccupationStudent
Years active2001–
Height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
WebsiteAnnaWatkins.co.uk
Sport
CountryGreat Britain
SportRowing
EventDouble sculls
University teamNewnham College Boat Club
ClubRob Roy Boat Club
Leander Club
Turned pro2003
Medal record
Women's rowing
Representing  Great Britain
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place2012 LondonDouble sculls
Bronze medal – third place2008 BeijingDouble sculls
World Championships
Gold medal – first place2010 KarapiroDouble sculls
Gold medal – first place2011 BledDouble sculls
Silver medal – second place2009 PoznańDouble sculls
Bronze medal – third place2007 MunichDouble sculls

Anna Rose Watkins MBE PhD (née Bebington, born 13 February 1983) is a British rower.

A double Olympian, Watkins won a bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics, and a gold medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics, both in the double sculls. She has also won four medals in the World Championships, winning gold in successive years, in 2010 and in 2011.

Early life

Watkins was born and raised in Leek, Staffordshire, where she attended Westwood College.[1] She studied Natural Sciences at Newnham College, Cambridge, where she started rowing in 2001.

Sporting career

She took her first strokes with Newnham College Boat Club and was captain of lower boats and then secretary for the club. Watkins represents Leander Club in rowing events.

At Cambridge, her college crew were Head of the Cam in 2003, before she moved onto the World Class Start talent identification programme run by UK sport, and based at Rob Roy Boat Club.[2] In 2004, she made her international debut, winning a gold medal in the Coxless IVs at the World Under 23 Regatta in Poznań, Poland with crewmates Natasha Page, Beth Rodford and Alison Knowles.

In 2005, Watkins made her senior international debut with the Women's Eight, achieving a fifth place at the World Championships in Gifu, Japan. She also won an Under 23 bronze medal at the World U23 Rowing Championships in Amsterdam.[3]

In 2006, Watkins switched to sculling and began competing in the double scull, a boat class she has remained with since then. The World Championships in 2006 were on home water at Eton Dorney. Watkins partnered Annabel Vernon, and they came in fourth place, having won the World Cup series earlier that season.[3]

For the next two years, Watkins's partner was Elise Laverick. In this combination, they won bronze medals at both the World Championships and at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The Olympic medal came after a difficult season battling with glandular fever, and at the time was the closest any British oarswoman had come to an Olympic gold with the three medal winning crews separated by 0.23 seconds.[4]

In 2009, Watkins once more partnered Annabel Vernon and won a silver medal at the World Championships in Poznań, Poland.[3]

In 2010, Watkins joined forces with Katherine Grainger for the first time. In their double scull they had an unbeaten season, culminating in their victory at the World Championships in New Zealand. They were named World Rowing Female Crew of the year[5] and also "The Sunday Times Women's Sports Team of the Year" for 2010.[6] Individually, Watkins became Champion of the Thames in the annual championships, the Wingfield Sculls.

In 2011, Watkins beat Grainger in the British Rowing Team trials.[7] They joined forces again in the double scull and continued their unbeaten run, finishing the season with another World Championships gold. Watkins retained her title in the Wingfield Sculls, setting a new record time.

At the 2012 London Olympics, Watkins and Grainger broke the Olympic record in the semi-final of the double sculls. Subsequently, they won the final to take the gold medal.[8][9]

Watkins was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours, for services to rowing.[10][11]

In August 2015, six months after the birth of her second child, Watkins announced her intention to return to competition, and to target the 2016 Rio Olympics.[12] Had she been successful, she would have been the first mother to represent Great Britain in rowing, and possibly the first woman to compete in consecutive Olympics whilst having two children in between.

In February 2016, she announced that she was pulling out of the British Olympic rowing programme for Rio 2016, citing her performance, saying "This is not a decision that I've taken lightly. I guess I would have always wondered about what might have been if I hadn't given it a go."[13]

Personal life

In September 2009, she married Oliver Watkins, a part-time rowing coach, who was studying for a PhD in engineering at Cambridge, where the couple met.[14] The couple live in Wokingham, where Oliver works for the McLaren Formula One team as a suspension specialist. Anna announced in March 2013, that the couple were expecting their first child, due in September 2013.[15] Anna gave birth to a boy which they named William James.[16] Anna had a second boy in February 2015.

Anna holds a PhD in mathematics from the University of Reading.[17][18]

Achievements

Olympic Games

  • 2012 London – Gold, Women's Double Sculls
  • 2008 Beijing – Bronze, Women's Double Sculls

World Rowing Championships

World Rowing Under 23 Championships

  • 2005 – Bronze, Coxless Pair
  • 2004 – Gold, Coxless Four

GB Rowing Team Senior Trials

  • 2012 – 2nd, Single Scull
  • 2011 – 1st, Single Scull

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Town honours its Olympic ace Anna". The Sentinel. 16 November 2008. Retrieved 16 November 2008.
  2. ↑ "Internationals". Rob Roy Boat Club. Archived from the original on 10 September 2011. Retrieved 6 November 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 "Anna Watkins". World Rowing. Archived from the original on 15 January 2020.
  4. ↑ John Simpson (10 April 2011). "The Times | UK News, World News and Opinion". The Times. Retrieved 6 November 2011.
  5. ↑ "World Rowing Awards". World Rowing. Retrieved 12 August 2016.
  6. ↑ "Watkins and Grainger win Sunday Times Women's Team of the Year Award". British Rowing. Archived from the original on 27 December 2010. Retrieved 6 November 2011.
  7. ↑ "Watkins in eye-catching win over Grainger at GB Rowing Team Assessment". British Rowing. Archived from the original on 27 August 2011. Retrieved 6 November 2011.
  8. ↑ "Olympics rowing: Anna Watkins & Katherine Grainger smash record". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
  9. ↑ "Olympics 2012: Great Britain win four golds in 24 hours". BBC Sport. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
  10. ↑ "No. 60367". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 December 2012. p. 25.
  11. ↑ Cabinet Office
  12. ↑ "Anna Watkins: London 2012 gold medallist makes rowing return". BBC Sport. 11 August 2015.
  13. ↑ "Anna Watkins pulls out of GB Olympic rowing programme". BBC Sport. 10 February 2016.
  14. ↑ "Olympic medallist weds man who set her on path to glory". thisisstaffordshire.co.uk. 30 October 2009. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  15. ↑ "Anna Watkins: Olympic rowing champion is pregnant". BBC News. 17 March 2013. Retrieved 17 March 2013.
  16. ↑ "Congratulations". British Rowing. 24 September 2013. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
  17. ↑ "SportsPark | BUCS | British Universities & Colleges Sports". Sport.reading.ac.uk. 28 April 2011. Archived from the original on 3 October 2011. Retrieved 6 November 2011.
  18. ↑ "A Moving Mesh Finite Element Method and its Application to Population Dynamics" (PDF). June 2017. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
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