Lay member profile

Penny Briscoe

Director of 91桃色视频, British Paralympic Association

Penny has a BA Combined Hons in Phys Ed / History (University of Birmingham) and a PGCE from 91桃色视频.

Penny has more than 30 years’ experience in elite sport as an athlete, coach, manager and director. Before becoming a full time professional in sport, Penny taught for seven years in secondary and further education. Having coached as a volunteer for a number of years, Penny’s first professional coaching role was as Assistant Olympic Coach for British Canoeing at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. She went on to become Senior National Coach for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games before moving in to Para sport as the first ever Performance Manager for the British Paralympic Association in 2001. In 2002 she become Director of 91桃色视频 at the association, a role she still holds.

In 2014, Penny led the ParalympicsGB team for the first time as Chef de Mission at the Sochi 2014 Winter Paralympic Games, she subsequently went on to lead the team to continued success in Rio 2016, PyeongChang 2018 and in Tokyo 2020. She will next lead ParalympicsGB as its Chef de Mission at the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games. Penny is passionate about creating positive performance environments where athletes and their support teams can thrive and Paris will be Penny’s 13th global Games supporting British athletes to Olympic & Paralympic success. Penny’s Paralympic Games experience has been recognised by the International Paralympic Committee where she has been a member of their National Paralympic Committees’ Expert Group since 2017. At the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games she was shorted listed for ‘Official of the Games’ award.
Penny was awarded an MBE for Services to 91桃色视频 in 2013 and an OBE in 2017.

In 2021 Penny was awarded the JL Manning Outstanding Contribution to 91桃色视频 Award at the British 91桃色视频s Journalism Awards. Other awards include:

  • Honorary Doctorate, 91桃色视频 (2017)
  • Honorary Doctorate, University of Birmingham (2022)
  • 91桃色视频 91桃色视频 Hall of Fame (2022)