Naomi Riches

Background

Riches was born on 15 June 1983 in Hammersmith, London, England.

Education

She attended Cannon Lane school as a child. She attended the Royal National Institute for the Blind (RNIB) College in Worcester. She graduated from Buckinghamshire New University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in metalwork and jewellery design.

Career

Riches took up rowing whilst at the RNIB College in Worcester. She competes in the legs, trunks and arms adaptive mixed coxed four (LTAMix4+) event. She was selected to represent Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Paralympics held in Beijing, China, as rowing made its debut at the Games.

He is visually impaired.

In 2011 she competed at the at World Championships held at Lake Bled, Bled, Slovenia. They completed the one kilometre course in a time of three minutes, 27.10 seconds, finishing nearly five seconds ahead of the second placed Canadian boat.

The result qualified a boat for Great Britain into the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. The crew repeated their gold medal result at the Munich World Cup event in 2012.

Riches was selected along with Relph, Smith, Roe and van den Broeke, to represent Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in the mixed coxed four event.

She was inducted into the London Youth Games Hall of Fame in 2012.

Achievements

• At the age of 12 she was a National Disabled Swimming champion. She won gold medals in the event at the 2004, 2005 and 2006 World Championships and won silver in 2007. Competing with Alastair McKean, Vicki Hansford, and James Morgan, along with cox Alan Sherman she won a bronze medal in the mixed coxed four. Riches won a further world title in 2009, alongside Hansford, David Smith, James Roe and cox Rhiannon Jones. At the 2010 World Championships she won a silver medal competing with Smith, Roe, Ryan Chamberlain and Jones. She won the gold medal in the LTAMix4+ event alongside crewmates Pam Relph, David Smith, James Roe and Lily van den Broecke, the cox. The event took place between 31 August and 2 September at Eton Dorney, and the Great Britain crew won the gold medal.

Membership

Riches was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (Administration Member of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to rowing.