BNU alumna Naomi Riches MBE DL reflects on London Paralympics 2012 gold medal win

Every four years the Olympics and Paralympics are staged for incredible humans to achieve their dreams. 

The excitement builds each time and it's been no different for Paris 2024. The Olympic games were spectacular and being so close to home they brought back far more memories of London 2012, than Rio 2016 or Tokyo 2020.  

I started my Adaptive rowing career in 2004 when rowing was not yet in the Paralympic Games and was only at world championship level. It was an incredibly exciting year for me and a new direction; the last thing I expected to be when at school was a World Championship level athlete. Going on to win Gold with my crew at our first World Championships in Spain was a real ‘pinch me’ moment.

2005 was an important year for rowing for two reasons. Firstly, the International Paralympic Committee had decided to include rowing in the Paralympic programme for the Beijing Games. Second, London beat Paris by 54 votes to 50, to be the host city for the 2012 summer Olympic and Paralympic Games. 

Remember this was 2005 and there was a long way to go to reach 2012, but in my mind's eye I knew that was where I was headed and that was where I wanted to be!

When I graduated from Buckinghamshire New University in 2006, I went straight into the life of a full-time athlete, relying on savings, Sports Aid grants and National Lottery funding. 

The closer we get to any Paralympic Games, summer or winter, the more people like to speak to me about their recollections of, or involvement in London 2012; I love it as it reawakens old memories and really brings back the buzz.

Where to start with my memories of 2012? There are so many to choose from and it was the most bind boggling 12 days of my life. For me, competing and getting to the podium was the most exciting bit.

Leading into the Paralympic regatta at Eton Dorney, we were staying at Royal Holloway Hall of Residence in Egham. This was much closer to the venue than the village in Stratford, there were far fewer distractions and with less travel which meant more time for preparation and recovery. The Para-Rowing world is a small one, so we knew many athletes from other competing nations and had seen them on the circuit for years. 

As we were competing just a couple of days into the games we didn’t attend the opening ceremony. Instead, we dressed in white and gold and sat in The Hub watching the ceremony on the big screen. The voices of Sir Ian McKellen and Professor Stephen Hawking speaking about the power of the human spirit and challenging perceptions will always stay in my memory. It did feel quite surreal, as I'd only ever watched opening ceremonies on the TV, so it was no different to normal, I just kept having to remind myself that it was the opening ceremony for OUR games.

On the first day of Paralympic regatta, Heats day, we got to Eton Dorney early for our pre-race paddle; a few kilometres for you to wake up, tune in, and get a feel for the conditions, the boat and each other.  When I say each other, it means understanding how each of us was feeling on the day and how that would impact the rest of the crew was always important; who was nervous and quiet? Who was nervous and excitable? Who was nervous and tense?  We all react differently in these situations so getting a pre-race paddle done was a good way to make us feel comfortable in our space and to get any niggles out of our systems. 

Then we would have our second breakfast, take a bit of time to chill and maybe listen to music before we started our land warm up.  This part of our warmup would be slightly different for each of us as we all had differing disabilities; it would be a combination of rowing machine and/or bike, stretching and mobility, but it was all planned to the minute. 

We hit the water 45 minutes before our race; enough time for those final bursts and practise starts, to get our heart rate up and a bit of lactate flowing through the muscles. 

All of my international rowing races have been hard to recall; the rules at that time dictated when I was racing I had to wear goggles that blacked out my vision entirely. This was the same for all visually impaired or blind athletes. So I have no visual recollection of any of my races live, all I have are the official photographs and videos, and the amazing videos and photographs taken on phones and cameras by friends, family and often complete strangers. 

There were two Heats on that day with six teams in each, the winner of each Heat would go straight through to the Final two days later.  Those who didn’t get straight through would have to compete the following day in the Repechage for the last four spaces. 

We won our heat and the German crew won their heat but in a faster time. The year before, at the Munich World Rowing Championships, the Germans took the Gold and we took the Silver. The London 2012 Final was going to be fast and it was going to be tight. 

Finals day dawned rather dull from what the pictures tell me. We followed the same routine, arrived early for our pre-race paddle, second breakfast, down time, warm up and boating 45 minutes before the Final, which would see us boating for the BIGGEST race of our lives against a crew who was faster than us. But it is what we had done in training a million times, it is everything we knew, all familiar territory and on home water. We just had to trust the process.

During the warm up paddle that morning, I remember so clearly hearing my Dad shouting from the Friends & Family stands on one side of the lake, and I also remember other familiar voices as we came back down the other side. Hearing those voices was an odd feeling; in one way it was reassuring and gave me a warm feeling in my gut, but it also seemed to strengthen my resolve and make me more eager to get to that start line.  There were so many people beyond the Team GB set up who had been part of my career; from a neighbour doing a kit wash when my washing machine packed up, to a coach and now amazing friend giving up his time to coach me for 4 months at Marlow Rowing Club, when I didn’t make the New Zealand Worlds Crew in 2010.  

I remember us all being very calm, we knew what we had to do, it was just another race against just another stopwatch.  We had a race plan and we were pretty sure it would work, but you can't control what the other crews are doing. You have to be able to react and respond to what is going on around you, but as a crew, as one.

We set off from the landing stage and I realised something wasn't right.  A nut and a washer on my rigger (the metal scaffold that holds the holds the oar on the side of the boat) were loose and making a clicking and clinking sound. I tried to tighten it but with shaking, nervous hands. I turned it the wrong way and heard it go plop into the lake. Just remember I was wearing goggles which blacked out my vision, everything I did was by feel and sound alone.  We paddled through to the repairs pontoon and got a new nut and washer.  

We carried on with our warm up, however, we had lost a lot of time and only had time to do a couple of bursts and one start.  In International racing, you must be on the start line five minutes before your race time.  We were there no problem, but as we were manoeuvring on to the start, my oar got stuck between the orange buoys that mark the start line. By the time we had untangled ourselves we were almost late, but luckily the Umpire could see we were there on time, we just got stuck- that cross wind at Eton Dorney is legendary!

The race itself felt like controlled chaos, we knew what we were doing, we knew where our strengths were, we knew that we had another gear for the end of the race, and oh boy did we have to use it.  The German crew shot out of the blocks and were in the lead until 200 metres to go. By that time we were all in a world of pain but also utterly surrounded by this wall of sound, fondly known as the Dorney Roar, which saw 30,000 spectators cheering, shouting, whooping and clapping. The majority of them were cheering for us, for GB!  I don't really know what happened in the closing stages, all I know is we dug deep and pushed into the pain.   

When we crossed the finish line I wasn't aware of the buzzer, I wasn't aware of where the German crew had finished and I had no idea if we had won or lost. 

I didn’t think the Dorney Roar could get any louder but it hit another level and Pam confirmed “We've won, we have won”, and somehow I heard that!

I was finally allowed to take zero vision goggles off, but because I'm so light sensitive everything was incredibly bright and such a blur, it almost hurt. 

When the medal was placed round my neck I cannot even begin to describe the cocktail of emotions running through my veins; it was a weird combination of relief, pride, happiness, slight confusion, ‘is this real or am I dreaming?’ There was also a small part of me hoping the bullies from school and the teachers who had never counted me as one of the students with potential, were watching that moment. 

Now, 12 years on, I still look at the medal and think ‘is that really mine?’  Even now, the joy it brings when I share it with people, the look of disbelief when I hang it around their necks, or the shy request of ‘can I get a selfie?’ is wonderful.   

The 2012 Games were at home, so of course it was going to be special, but as far as I believe, it was the best Paralympic Games ever; it changed the perception of para-sport around the world and it inspired people to challenge themselves and dream big. 

Something else that was unique to the 2012 games were the Royal Mail gold post boxes which were painted for every Olympic or Paralympic Champion. Mine stands halfway down Marlow High Street and I walk past it every day, which never fails to make me smile.

Life can surprise you as rowing surprised me. Never let anyone tell you what your future should look like, it is yours to design and create as you want to. To make that possible you need to stay curious, explore opportunities and challenge yourself. Your very own gold medal is there for the taking in whatever form that might be.