Joanna Rowsell

Rowsell was born in Carshalton in the London Borough of Sutton. She attended Cuddington Croft Primary School from 1993 to 2000 and Nonsuch High School for Girls from 2000 to 2007.

She competed for Sutton in the London Youth Games.

Rowsell was picked up by British Cycling's Talent Team programme in 2004, after being tested at her school.^[5] Her first major wins came in 2005 and 2006. As a junior, she won the British National Track Championships pursuit in both these years, whilst in senior competition on the road she won the 2006 British National Women's Series competition. She represented the UK at the European and World Junior Track and Road Championships in these years.

In 2006, she also finished third in the British National Championship and subsequently signed for the professional team Global Racing for the 2007 season. In her first year as a senior, she finished third in the 3 km pursuit and the points race at the National Track Championships. On the road, she finished second in the British National Circuit Race Championships.

2008 saw Rowsell join the new Nicole Cooke-led Team Halfords Bikehut.^[6] She also continued to compete on the track, winning her first World Title at the 2008 World Championships in Manchester as part of the women's pursuit team.^[7]

In 2012, she won in preparation for the Olympics at the Track Cycling World Cup in London both the team pursuit and the individual pursuit in February. Rowsell was a member of the team pursuit squad alongside Dani King and Laura Trott, when they won the team pursuit event and set a new world record at the 2011–12 UCI Track Cycling World Cup in London. They broke the record again at the 2012 UCI Track Cycling World Championships. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Rowsell won a gold medal for the team pursuit alongside King and Trott.^[8] Having already set world record times in both the qualifying and semi-finals in this event, the team also went on to set a new world record time of 3:14.051 in the final.^[9]

In 2013, Rowsell broke her collarbone at the London cycling festival but, five weeks later, after an operation and training on a Wattbike with a pillow on the bars, she won the Women's Pursuit on the track at the International Belgian Open in Ghent.^[10]

In September 2014 Rowsell announced that she would be leaving the Wiggle-Honda team and joining the Pearl Izumi Sports Tours International squad on a two-year deal from 2015.^[11] In 2016, Rowsell won a gold medal in the Team Pursuit at the Rio Olympics.

On 14 March 2017, Rowsell announced that she was retiring from the sport. "The decision to step away has been the hardest I've ever had to make," she said. "I believe I have more to offer the world."^[12][13]

Rowsell's younger brother Erick Rowsell is a former road racing cyclist.^[14] She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to cycling.^[15] In July 2015 Rowsell married Daniel Shand^[16] and then competed as Joanna Rowsell Shand. The marriage ended in divorce in 2020.

After retirement, she studied human biology at Manchester Metropolitan University,^[17] before becoming a medical student at St. George's Hospital Medical School in 2020.^[18][19]

Rowsell has alopecia areata, a condition resulting in hair loss.^[20][21]

• 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics gold post boxes