KICK START TO NEW LIFE
Wilson sets sights on World Cup
REBEKAH WILSON has push starts and Olympic tackle counts and tries.
The Warrington Wolves forward represented Team GB in the Olympic two-woman bobsleigh at Sochi 2014, having been a record-breaking athlete as a teenager.
She retired after the Games and wrote down a host of other sports and put them in a hat for her next challenge – drawing out rugby. Following a spell playing in union’s top flight for Waterloo and later Sale,Wilson switched codes to the Wolves and is now a key figure in their first season in the Women’s Super League.
“When I first started I was a winger but I’ve come full circle now and the other week I made my debut as a prop,” she explained.
“I’m not afraid of hard work and, as long as I’m on the pitch, I don’t mind where I am.
“The thinking was that my speed and power can be beneficial in the middle. I’ve always been judged on my speed even though I’m pushing 30 now.” Wilson set a European record for the swapped rings for 60m aged 12 but, by 17, had switched to the bobsleigh, going straight into the senior squad and onto the World Cup circuit.
Within six years, she was competing at the Winter Games. “Making it to Sochi was very mixed for me,” said Wilson, who works for another former Olympian at the Diane Modahl Sports Foundation during the day. “I was proud to make it to the Olympics because I’d said I’d do that from being eight years old and it was all I’d ever wanted. “The whole Olympic experience, jumping in the rings, being in the village, having a tattoo, was incredible. But the politics of the sport ruined it a bit for me, the team dynamic was dysfunctional.” Now there is the Rugby League World Cup in November to aim for with England. She added: “It’s in the back of my mind but it’s more about playing for Warrington and doing well there this season.”