The Prime Minister has announced that Dame Katherine Grainger is to become a life peer
Olympic gold medallist Katherine Grainger has been awarded a peerage, Downing Street has announced. She will join the House of Lords as non-aligned crossbench peers.
Baroness Grainger, now chairwoman of the British Olympic Association (BOA), is Britain’s most decorated female rower.
In addition to winning gold at the 2012 London Olympics, she won four silver medals – in 2000, 2004, 2008 and 2016 – and six world championship titles.
Baroness Grainger then spent eight years as chairwoman of UK Sport before leaving the post this year and taking up the leadership of the BOA.
The government outlined Dame Katherine’s success which has led to the peerage being conferred upon her: “Dame Katherine Grainger is Britain’s most decorated female rower and the only female athlete – in any sport – to gain medals in five consecutive Olympic Games. Following her completion of two terms as Chair of UK Sport, Dame Katherine was appointed as Chair of the British Olympic Association.
“Born in Glasgow, Dame Katherine read law at the University of Edinburgh and then obtained a Masters in law from the University of Glasgow and a PhD from King’s College London. Dame Katherine began rowing in 1993, winning a silver medal at the Sydney, Athens and Beijing Olympics, before winning a gold medal in London, and a further silver medal in Rio de Janeiro, as well aseight World Championship medals, including six gold medals.
“Dame Katherine is on the board of the Youth Sport Trust and is patron of Netball Scotland, Winning Scotland and the National Coastwatch Institution. She was appointed a DBE in 2017, following previous awards of MBE and CBE. Katherine was previously Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University and is currently the Chancellor of the University of Glasgow and Honorary Colonel of the 215 (Scottish) Multirole Medical Regiment of the British Army. She is also the Honorary President of Scottish Rowing.”
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/crossbench-peerages-june-2025