Glover in good shape for GB’s Olympic team
Double Olympic champion hopes to be competitive at Paris Games
Cookham’s Helen Glover is set to compete for a spot in Team GB’s rowing team for next summer's Olympic Games in Paris believing she’s in as good shape now as she was in her 20s.
If she were to qualify for the finals in Paris, this would be the 36-yearold’s fourth Olympic Games, and she’s determined to eclipse her performance at the Tokyo Games in 2021 where she just missed out on a medal.
The mother-of-three is a double Olympic champion and one of this country’s greatest ever rowers, however, the drive and determination to continue competing still burns bright within her.
She will soon return to international regatta racing with her eyes set firmly on the prize of a possible podium finish in Paris, in whatever boat she’s selected to compete in.
Glover won gold in London 2012 and Rio 2016, and she made more history in 2021 when she became the first mother to compete for Team GB in rowing at the Tokyo Games.
She has support from her family and British Rowing, but it's her times in training that have ultimately convinced her to give it one more shot.
“Lots of different factors brought me back, one of them being that I still have the physical capability,” the Cornwall native said. “At some point, my body will no longer be able to do this, that point isn't now.
“And I think if I can physically do it, and I have the motivation and the drive to do it, and I still enjoy it and it
fits in with the family life then I really should do it.”
She doesn’t yet know what boat she'll be competing in, but recent races bode well, with Glover winning the pairs trial with Rebecca Shorten last month. After she and Heather Stanning conquered the world once again in Rio, Glover retired to start a family. Her first son Logan was born in July 2018, with twins Kit and Willow following in January 2020. The Tokyo Games being pushed back a year then gave her just about enough time to get into shape for the 2021 season.
She managed to book her place on the team for the games and finished fourth alongside Polly Swann in the women’s pairs. Last year, she earned a world silver medal on debut in the
Beach Sprint event of the World Rowing Coastal Championships, an event she credits with keeping her in shape ahead of this Olympic cycle.
She added: “Of course I had concerns about going up against younger athletes. I think as a society, we are led to believe that you peak in your 20s and there’s no question about it.
“And there are so many amazingly talented rowers coming through, but that's why I came back. I want to come back into a leading squad, into a squad that's going to challenge me.
“I think it’s possible that I could be in Paris at the age of 38 and be better than I ever have been.”
Glover has taken inspiration from former teammate Katherine Grainger, who won silver at Rio 2016 aged 41, to ensure she won a medal in each of her five Olympic appearances. She is a born competitor who sets her sights on the podium every time, however, having her three children waiting for her on the finish line in France will feel like achievement enough.
“My children being able to be in Paris is definitely a motivation for coming back,” she said. “There are all the big picture things like what my performance is going to be, how I'm going to do, what I'm going to get. And then representing a whole community of parents and wanting to fly the flag for them. All these things feel big, but then if I want to simplify it right down, I can just think of my three kids in the stands at Paris and go, 'Well, that’s enough.”