Melanie Wilson (rower)
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | 25 June 1984 (age 32) |
| Sport | |
| Country |
 Great Britain
|
| Sport | Women's rowing |
| College team | Imperial College Boat Club |
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Medal record
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Melanie Wilson (born 25 June 1984) is a British rower who competes for the GB rowing team. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, she competed in the Women's quadruple sculls. At the 2016 Summer Olympics she won a silver medal in the women's eight.
Born in Southampton, Wilson spent her early years in Japan and Hong Kong before moving to the UK in 2002 to take an honours degree in Biochemistry and Genetics at the University of Nottingham. She was educated at Island School in Hong Kong. After graduating she spent 6 months in Kilifi, Kenya working on research into malaria under the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme. In 2007, she completed a Master’s degree in Biochemical Engineering at UCL before enrolling in Imperial College London to sit for a post-graduate degree in medicine. After she was selected to join the GB Rowing team she suspended her medical studies in 2010 to focus on competing for a place in a GB boat in the London 2012 Olympics. Following the London Olympics she resumed her medical studies and withdrew from full time competitive rowing in September 2013. She graduated in July 2014 and returned to full time rowing with the aim of competing at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. Initially selected for the GBRowing quadruple sculls she was moved into the eight in early 2016 and selected to compete in this boat class at Rio de Janeiro in June 2016.
In Munich at the first World Cup of 2011 Wilson, in the absence of injured Anna Watkins, raced with Katherine Grainger in the women's double and won a gold medal, with clear water between them and the boats of USA and Belarus in silver and bronze positions respectively. Wilson moved into the women's quadruple scull for the Lucerne World Cup, where she won a silver medal.
At 2011 World Rowing Championships in Bled, Slovenia, Wilson raced in the women's quadruple scull with crewmates Debbie Flood, Beth Rodford and Annabel Vernon, finishing 7th. This was sufficient to qualify the boat for the 2012 London Olympics but a below form finish and a result which Wilson described as the ‘the biggest disappointment of my life’.
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