Dame Katherine Grainger

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.4 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 26 February 2017

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Kirsty Young's castaway is the Olympian and rower, Dame Katherine Grainger. A six-time rowing World Champion across a variety of classes, her silver medal at Rio in 2016 made her the most successful female British Olympic athlete ever, having won medals in five consecutive games. Born in Glasgow in 1975, her parents were teachers. At school she earned a black belt in karate, and it wasn't until she went to Edinburgh University that her passion for rowing was truly ignited. Winning silver medals at the Sydney, Athens and Beijing Olympics, Katherine finally ceased to be the sport's eternal bridesmaid when, with her partner Anna Watkins, she won gold in the Double Sculls at the 2012 London Olympics. After two years away from the sport, Katherine returned in 2014, to win her fourth silver and fifth overall Olympic medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics with her new partner, Vicky Thornley. Alongside her sporting achievements, she gained an Honours degree in Law from Edinburgh, a Masters in Medical Law from Glasgow University and was awarded a PhD in Homicide Sentencing from King's College London in 2013. She was made the fourth Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University in 2015 and became a Dame in the 2017 New Year Honours. Producer: Cathy Drysdale.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is the BBC.
0:03.0	Hello, I'm Kirstie Young.
0:05.0	Thank you for downloading this podcast of Desert Island Discs from BBC Radio 4.
0:09.0	For rights reasons, the music choices are shorter than in the Radio broadcast.
0:14.0	For more information about the program, please visit bbc.co.uk- Radio 4.
0:30.0	Music
0:41.0	My castaway this week is the roer, Dame Catherine Granger.
0:45.0	She is the most successful British Olympic female athlete ever, having won medals in five consecutive games.
0:53.0	But for a long time, they were only silver.
0:56.0	I have the feeling she is the sort of person for whom that's not quite satisfying enough.
1:02.0	It was on a chilly stretch of Buckinghamshire Water in 2012 that she finally won Olympic gold.
1:08.0	In six minutes and 55 seconds of lung-busting, sinew-straining effort.
1:13.0	And get this. In parallel with her record-breaking sporting achievements, she's completed a law degree, a master's and a PhD.
1:21.0	She says, whatever the results of the challenge, it's worth being out there in the dust and the dirt.
1:27.0	It's worth the battle and the scars and the possible heartbreak.
1:30.0	And of course, it's worth having dreams because you never know when and how they might come true.
1:36.0	So welcome, Catherine.
1:38.0	And what is it about being out there in the dust and the dirt to use your words that makes you feel truly alive?
1:44.0	There's something about the challenge.
1:46.0	I do love that it's hard and it's not for everyone.
1:50.0	And it doesn't get easier. And you're trying to find perfection in sport a lot of the time.
1:55.0	And it is a constant battle against the elements against your own mental strength against.
	...

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