Debbie Flood competed in both athletics and judo before taking up rowing and was good enough to represent Great Britain at judo as a junior. She won gold medals at the World Under-23 Championships in both 1999 and 2000 before stepping up to the senior national squad for the 2001 season. Flood switched boats several times before finding a home in the quadruple sculls in 2004. She met with immediate success after switching to the pair as the crew finished in the silver medal position at the Athens Olympics. After a year competing in the double sculls she returned to the quad in 2006 and won her first world title although this was only after the Russian crew were disqualified for a doping infringement, after they had crossed the line first. Their title was retained in 2007 and it was a great disappointment to the crew that they could not emulate this success at the 2008 Olympics. In Beijing they were victims of a mild upset as they could not match the crew from the host country in the final.
After taking a year off in 2009, Flood returned to the sport to add a third world title in 2010 but, in contrast, the crew failed to even reach the final of the 2011 World Championships. She competed in her third Olympics the following year but failed to add to her medal collection when the British team finished fifth, but received ample compensation four months later when Flood became the first woman in the 194-year history of the Leander Club to be appointed their captain. In 2015 she rowed from London to Paris and raised over £300,000 for charity. Flood graduated from Reading University after studying Physiology and Biochemistry and is a member of the “Christians in Sport” organization.
Great Britain