Woman with law degree, masters and PhD becomes the country’s most successful female Olympian

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By Katie King on

Meanwhile most students have barely got out of bed today

Kgrainger

Professional rower Katherine Grainger won her fifth Olympic medal in the sport yesterday, but did you know she’s also a law graduate?

Prepare to feel like an underachiever.

40-year-old Olympic rower Grainger took up the sport when she enrolled at Edinburgh University in the 1990s. There, she studied law, and not long after became the proud owner of not just an honours law degree but also a masters degree in medical law and ethics from Glasgow University.

To top it off, in 2013, Scottish born Grainger finished her King’s College University PhD on sentencing and the law of homicide, just one year after winning a gold medal at London 2012. Since 2015 she has been the Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University, a role previously held by Shami Chakrabarti and Helena Kennedy QC.

For some, this level of academic legal achievement would be enough, but not for Grainger. On Thursday, she secured a silver medal in the women’s double sculls in Rio, making her Team GB’s most successful female Olympian of all time.

Hats off to her.

Previously:

Where are the lawyers in this summer of sport? [Legal Cheek]