With access to state of the art facilities and endless opportunity, it is no surprise that Edinburgh’s students have made their mark on sport. From rugby to rowing, cycling to sprinting, UOE has produced a range of stellar graduates, whose names you may recognise…
Eric Liddell – who gives his name to Pleasance’s training gym – is a UOE graduate of Pure Science. Successful in both athletics and rugby, Liddell was forced to choose between the two for the 1924 Paris Olympics. He went on to win the gold medal for the 400m event and the bronze for the 200m. This part of his life inspired the award-winning film, Chariots of Fire. Liddell went on to become a missionary in northern China, following in his parents’ footsteps.
While Susie Wolff did not graduate officially from her Business Studies degree at UOE, the acclaimed racing driver competed in various racing formulas before being signed to F1 team Williams as a development driver. Wolff is widely acknowledged as a trailblazer for women in motorsport, with this being realised through becoming managing director of all-female racing series F1 Academy in 2023. She has since sought to overcome both social and financial barriers preventing women access to the junior formulas.
Sir Chris Hoy is an 11-time world and six-time Olympic cycling champion, making him the second-most decorated Olympic cyclist of all time. At UOE, he studied Applied Sports Science, joining the Team GB cyclists only a year after graduation to earn his first Olympic medal in 2000. After his retirement in 2013, Hoy became a BBC pundit for cycling events, as well as competing in GT motor-racing and 24h of Le Mans.
Baroness Katherine Grainger, who studied Law at UOE, is Britain’s most decorated female Olympian, with five Olympic medals and eight World Championship medals in rowing. Her first was achieved at Sydney 2000, and she developed a taste for victory, breaking record after record until her retirement. In 2024, it was announced that she would become the new chair of the British Olympic Association following her final term as chair of UK Sport in 2025.
Judy Murray graduated from UOE with a degree in Business Studies in 1981, but even before that she won numerous titles in her junior and senior tennis career. After coaching both her sons Jamie and Sir Andy Murray, in December 2011 she was appointed as Captain of the Billie Jean King Cup team, and received her OBE in 2017.
Photo by Matteo Vistocco on Unsplash.
