Grainger delighted to see Scots’ stars shine
Emergence of new generation excites Olympic legend
There are ones we don’t know about yet who will be the next superstars
The drama of sport — goodness, of life — continues to captivate Dame Katherine Grainger. She has been there, seen it, done it. And then some. But there is always an element of the great unknown that will forever appeal to her.
‘That’s the stuff I love — the unpredictability of sport and the moments that take you by surprise,’ says Britain’s most decorated female Olympic athlete of all time. ‘We don’t know what we’ll be talking about in a year’s time but we know we’ll be talking about something.’
The current conversation surrounds the hope and expectation of the next Olympics. With less than a year to go to Tokyo 2020, focus is increasing on the latest athletes with eyes on the biggest prize.
Grainger can, of course, watch the build-up and the unrivalled
spectacle of the Games under just a little bit less pressure these days.
As chair of UK Sport, the Scot’s attention is drawn to those we already know and individuals who may appear from nowhere.
These are different — but still exciting — times for the 43-year-old after her extraordinary success as a rower. Grainger’s story is one of the best examples that hard work really does pay off.
her smile as she finally won Olympic gold in London after silvers in Sydney, Athens and Beijing remains one of the defining images of UK sporting history.
Grainger’s past achievements have seen her nominated for the National Lottery’s Sporting Legend Award as part of The 25th Birthday National Lottery Awards.
But her own admiration and enthusiasm for the Scottish stars of today can’t be contained — most notably athlete Laura Muir and swimmer Duncan Scott.
‘We’ve got established stars that we know about,’ she tells Sportsmail. ‘People like Laura Muir we have seen grow up within the sport — hitting real achievements — but now she is very consistent. She is consistently delivering great results on the global stage.
‘We’ve already had great achievements with Duncan Scott winning gold in the pool recently (anchoring GB’s men in the 4x100m medley relay at the World Championships in South Korea last month).
‘Then there are athletes who are still to come and will break through in Tokyo. They might know themselves what they are setting out to achieve but they might not know what they have in front of them.
‘For me, watching it on the sidelines these days, it is exciting to try to predict where that next talent will come from. The ones we don’t know about yet who will be the next superstars.
‘I don’t know if it’s an age thing, but every cycle seems to get faster. When you’re young, four years seems an eternity to wait for the Games but, the more you do it, the more it flies by.
‘When I speak to young athletes now, they don’t realise what they are about to embark upon. It’s all yet to come. There are new records to be broken and new standards to be met.’
Naturally, over the years, there are moments of uncertainty ahead of the Olympics. For example, how were Team GB ever going to top the momentous achievements of London 2012? It couldn’t get better than that, right?
Well, when Team GB claimed 67 medals in Rio four years later — two more than in London — we became the first nation in the modern Olympic era to increase our medal tally at a summer Games immediately after hosting. That total included another silver — and final — medal for Grainger.
‘It was a seven-year build-up to the Games coming to Britain,’ she recalls. ‘It was a long buildup. It was hugely exciting. As athletes, the previous Olympics in Britain was not in our lifetime. It was unique, special and a one-off, chance to compete at those Games.
‘There was then an element of no one talking about what would happen in 2013, 2014 or 2015.
‘But when Glasgow got the Commonwealth Games in 2014, there was then a lightbulb moment that there was even more to come.
‘The great thing — and it’s very healthy for all of us, without any risk of getting stuck in the past — is the sense that sport always reinvents itself. It will always look for its next heroes.
‘You can still be very respectful of the past, but every athlete wants to do it for themselves and every coach wants to achieve something that has not been done before. everyone has ambitions to move forward.
‘Although we can always look back and think we’ve had a great time at events like a home Olympics or the Commonwealth Games, it’s about the next wave of athletes.
‘No new athlete that I’ve met that has come in now is in any way thinking the golden age is behind us. They think they will be the next golden age and that keeps it very healthy and fresh.
‘One of the bravest things done by the whole high-performance system after 2012 was saying: “Right, where do we go next? Could we be the first country to achieve more at Rio?”.
‘No country had tried to do that or achieved that ambition. For the British team to do even better in Rio than they had in London was huge.
‘Now we’re thinking: “What next?”. The great thing is there will always be a “next” and that’s what keeps it so exciting to be working in that environment.’
One of Grainger’s ‘next’ triumphs could arrive in London this November when she will share a stage with fellow Scot Sir Chris hoy — GB’s joint-most successful Olympic athlete of all time — and Sir Mo Farah, to name but two of 11 other nominees at the National Lottery Awards.
‘None of us ever want to think that we’re has-beens or past it!’ she adds. ‘Some of those athletes are still very active but there is a sense that we’ve had our moment.
‘There are many things that unite us all but everyone is very proud and appreciative of the time we all experienced in British sport. It has been an incredible 25 years of a golden age of Olympic and Paralympic sport.
‘Long may it continue and, hopefully, it is set to continue. But you look back now and say it’s been a so-far-so-good report card.’