Caragh McMurtry

British rower Caragh McMurtry started coastal rowing via an outreach project in 2002. She then made it to the 2009 Junior World Championships and won a silver medal in the women’s coxless fours. McMurty also won a silver in the coxless pairs at the U23 World Championships in 2012, and that year after the London Olympics she trained and raced with the senior GBR squad.

McMurty won various European and World Cup medals, but later struggled for many years due to receiving a misdiagnosis of Bipolar disorder in 2014, and being put on performance supressing mood stabilisers and antipsychotic medications! In 2019 McMurty was finally re-diagnosed with Autism. She was taken off her medication, and developed an understanding of herself that led to her rising from the position of team spare, to winning a coxless fours silver medal at Lucerne in 2021. McMurty had raced in the eights at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but finished seventh and last.

McMurty retired from rowing due to both injury and the above experiences, which took their toll. She set up a CIC called Neurodiverse Sport, which aims to combat the widespread misunderstanding and stigma faced by neurodivergent athletes in sport.