The Baroness Grey-Thompson | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Grey-Thompson in 2020 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 23 March 2010 Life peerage | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Carys Davina Grey (1969-07-26)26 July 1969 (age 56) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Citizenship | British | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | None (crossbencher) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Residence(s) | Eaglescliffe,Stockton-on-Tees,County Durham, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | Loughborough University | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Politician,athlete,TV personality | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | tanni | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname | Tanni Grey-Thompson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sports career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Wheelchair racing | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Disability | Spina bifida | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Disability class | T53 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Retired | 2007 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Now coaching | Jade Jones[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Carys Davina "Tanni" Grey-Thompson, Baroness Grey-Thompson,[2] (néeGrey; born 26 July 1969) is a Welshlife peer,television presenter and formerwheelchair racer.
Grey-Thompson started wheelchair racing at the age of 13 and made herParalympic debut for Wales at 15, in the 100m at the Junior National Games in 1984.[3] She followed this up by winning the National Junior title in her last year as a junior.[4]
Her international career began at the age of 19 in 1988 inSeoul, where she won a bronze medal in the 400m. As a young athlete she also competed inwheelchair basketball. Her fifth and last Paralympic Games were in Athens (2004) where she won two gold medals inwheelchair racing in the 100m and 400m.[5] In total in her Paralympic career she won 16 medals (11 gold, four silver and a bronze)[5] and also 13 World Championship medals (six gold, five silver and two bronze).
On 27 February 2007, Grey-Thompson announced her pending retirement, with her last appearance for Great Britain at May's Paralympic World Cup inManchester.[6] Over her career, she won a total of 16 Paralympic medals, including 11 golds, held over 30world records and won theLondon Marathon six times between 1992 and 2002.
In preparation for her retirement from the track in 2007, she expanded her television presenting career onBBC Wales andS4C, as well asBBC One.
Grey-Thompson has worked for the BBC on a number of sporting events. At theGlasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, she worked as a reporter across multiple sports.[7] For theBirmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, she joined the athletics team as a pundit and commentator.[8]
She was the first female wheelchair user in the world to present on television on BBC2's ground-breaking series for disabled peopleFrom the Edge.
She has also presented BBC WalesX-ray,Big Welsh Challenge,Land of our Mothers, and worked for BBC Radio Wales, Five Live, and Radio Cleveland. She was a key member of the BBC commentary team at the Beijing Paralympics 2008, and of subsequent Paralympics.[9]
In February 2025 Tanni was a guest panellist on ITVs flagship showLoose Women.
During her competitive career she sat on the board of the National Disability Council, The Sports Council for Wales, the English Lottery Awards Panel and UK Sport, and also sat for three years on the Mission 2012 panel (part of UK Sport). Grey-Thompson also sat on the board of theLondon Marathon (2007–2018), the board ofTransport for London[10] (2008–2018) and currently sits on theLondon Legacy Development Corporation. She chairs the board ofukactive.
Grey-Thompson is patron of numerous charities including theDuke of Edinburgh Awards scheme, the Wembley Stadium Legacy Trust, the Guernsey Disability Alliance andZoe's Place Baby Hospice, a charity for sick babies and young children.[11] She is also President of Sportsleaders UK, aUNICEF Ambassador, academy member of the Laureus World Sport Academy (trustee of the Sport for Good Foundation) and a Council member for theWinston Churchill Memorial Trust.
As well as this, she is the Patron of the Tees Wheelyboats Club, a group providing disabled people with access to theRiver Tees,[12]
In July 2011, Grey-Thompson was announced as the President of the Leadership 20:20 Commission, the commission on the future leadership of Civil Society. She launched the commission's recommendations in Parliament on 14 December 2011.
Previously, she has also been a Trustee of V, theTony Blair Sports Foundation,[13] Sportsaid Foundation (of which she was a recipient as a young athlete), an International Inspiration Ambassador and Chair of the Women's Sports and Fitness Foundation Commission on the Future of Women's Sport.
Grey-Thompson has also been theChancellor ofNorthumbria University since July 2015.[14]
In December 2021, Grey-Thompson was appointed as Chair of theNorth of Tyne Combined Authority's Inclusive Economy Board.[15]
On 23 March 2010, Grey-Thompson was created alife peer on the recommendation of theHouse of Lords Appointments Commission (HOLAC). Despite previously suggesting a desire for a title with a Welsh connection,[16] her title was conferred as Baroness Grey-Thompson, ofEaglescliffe inStockton-On-Tees on 23 March 2010.[17]
Grey-Thompson was introduced in theHouse of Lords on 29 March,[18] swearing theoath of allegiance in bothEnglish andWelsh and sits as acrossbencher.[19][20]
In August 2014, Grey-Thompson was one of 200 public figures who were signatories to a letter toThe Guardian opposingScottish independence in the run-up to September'sreferendum on that issue.[21]
In1993, she was appointedMember of the Order of the British Empire (MBE)[22] for "services to Athletics for the Disabled", advanced in2000 toOfficer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE),[23] and then in2005 was promoted toDame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE), in both cases for "services to disabled sport".[24]
Grey-Thompson was named theBBC Wales Sports Personality of the Year three times; in 1992, 2000 and 2004. In 2000, she came third in theBBC Sports Personality of the Year, behindSteve Redgrave andDenise Lewis. That year she also received theHelen Rollason Award for her performance at the2000 Summer Paralympics. In August 2009, she was made a member of theGorsedd at the 2009National Eisteddfod inBala,Gwynedd.[25]
Willenhall School Sports College,West Midlands has named ahouse in her honour, where each of the eight houses is named after influential sports stars and local heroes.Roundwood Park School set up a house system in 2011. In July 2012, the blue house became Grey-Thompson house.[26]
In November 2012, she was appointed to the three-person commission that has been set up by theUnion Cycliste Internationale to investigate theLance Armstrong doping affair.[27]
In February 2013, she was assessed as one of the 100 most powerful women in the United Kingdom byWoman's Hour onBBC Radio 4.[28] In the same year, she was also recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women.[29]
In June 2018, she was inducted into Power Brands LIFE – Hall of Fame at London International Forum for Equality.[30]
In January 2019, she was chosen as a contender for the "Greatest Person of the 20th Century" in theBBC Icons series but did not proceed beyond the 'Sports Stars' heat.
On15 December 2019, she was given theBBC Sports Personality of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award.[31]
Grey-Thompson has received numerous honorary degrees including Honorary Doctorates from Oxford University, Oxford Brookes University, the University of Greenwich, theUniversity of Bath, Newcastle University, Liverpool John Moores, the University of Leicester, Sheffield Hallam University, University of Hull, University of Exeter, Heriot Watt University, the Open University, University of Wales Newport, the University of Wales, Leeds Metropolitan University,Loughborough University (both a Master and Doctorate[32]), Teesside University, York and Ripon College, University of Swansea, University of Glamorgan, UWIC, University of Surrey, Southampton University, Manchester Metropolitan University, Staffordshire University and Cardiff University. Grey-Thompson received a Lifetime Achievement Award and another Honorary Doctorate from theUniversity of East London in May 2011, at the university's annual Sports Award evening held atWest Ham United'sUpton Park stadium.[33][34]
In July 2013, she received an Honorary Doctorate of Science (HonDSc) in recognition of her outstanding service to disability and to disadvantaged people, and to her promotion of sport and the Paralympics.[35]
On 15 June 2016, she was awarded the degree of Doctor of Law (honoris causa) by the University of Cambridge.[36]
Grey-Thompson hasspina bifida and is a wheelchair user. She was christened Carys Davina Grey, but her sister Sian, who is two years older than Tanni, referred to her as "tiny" when she first saw her, pronouncing it "tanni"; the nickname stuck.[37]
Grey-Thompson attendedSt Cyres Comprehensive School inPenarth, South Wales.[38] She graduated fromLoughborough University in 1991 with aBA (Hons) degree inPolitics and Social Administration.
She is married to Ian Thompson,[39] a research chemist and former wheelchair athlete. They live atEaglescliffe,Stockton-on-Tees; they have one daughter.[40]
HerautobiographySeize the Day was published byHodder and Stoughton in 2001.
| Year | Event | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 100 m | 1st |
| 2005 | 400 m | 1st |
| 2007 | 200 m | 2nd |
Note – #^ British Disabled Flying Association (2005).Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson OBE, MBE – new patron for the BDFA. Retrieved 31 December 2005.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
