Naomi Riches did not set out to become a Paralympic champion. At school, she was known as “the blind girl,” sat at the front of the class with large-print worksheets, and often made to feel different before anyone saw what she could actually do.

Rowing changed that.

Within four months of joining the Great Britain adaptive rowing set-up, Naomi was sent to her first World Championships and came back with gold.

In this exclusive interview with the London Keynote Speakers Agency, Naomi discusses how rowing changed her relationship with her disability, why missing out on selection in 2010 became one of the biggest lessons of her career, and what her record-breaking Thames row taught her about control, trust and resilience.