- Born
- September 17, 1989, Surrey
- From
- Grew up in Murrayville; D.W. Poppy Secondary, class of 2007. Olympic.ca lists Langley as her hometown and Aldergrove as her residence.
- Sport
- Rowing, women's eight
- Olympics
- Rio 2016, fifth; Tokyo 2020, gold
- World championship medals
- Bronze 2013, silver 2014, bronze 2015, silver 2017, silver 2018
- Last checked
- October 23, 2026
Lisa Roman came to rowing late. She’d spent 14 years as a competitive figure skater, much of it at North Surrey Arena where her mother taught, before she stepped into a boat at the University of the Fraser Valley in 2008. Within a year she was the Cascades’ top female rower.
Murrayville and D.W. Poppy
The Langley Advance Times describes her as growing up in Murrayville and graduating from D.W. Poppy Secondary in 2007. She was born in Surrey, and the Cloverdale Reporter adds that she’d lived in Langley for many years. Alongside the skating she danced with a company in South Surrey to build core strength and stability, and the Reporter’s 2021 profile traces the strength she brought to rowing back to both.
From UFV to the national team
At UFV, under coach Liz Chisholm, she made Team BC for the Canada Summer Games in her second season and came home with three medals. She transferred to Washington State University, earned second-team All-America honours as a senior, and finished a psychology degree.
With Canada’s under-23 eight she won the 2011 world title. Then came a long run in the senior eight, with a medal at five world championships between 2013 and 2018 (see the facts box). At Rio in 2016 the boat finished fifth.
Tokyo
The Tokyo Games were held in 2021, a year late. In the women’s eight final Canada beat New Zealand by 0.91 seconds, with China third. It was Canada’s first Olympic win in the event since 1992. One of her crewmates, Andrea Proske, was also described by the Advance Times as a Langley rower, so the boat carried two.
Coaching where she started
In November 2021 Roman took over coaching at UFV and restarted the rowing team, which had stopped during the pandemic. By March 2022 her novices were winning their categories at the Head of the Fort regatta, which drew about 200 rowers from 12 clubs that year. UFV inducted her into its Cascades Hall of Fame in February 2022.
“I started the team up again in November,” she told the Advance Times, in a story mostly about getting other people into boats.
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Last checked October 22, 2026. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.
