What a haul, what a turnaround. Three rowing golds, two silvers and three bronzes. A record for an overseas Games, only one fewer than at London 2012, and a fantastic result after our turmoil in Tokyo.
We topped the rowing medal table in Beijing, London and again in Rio so to finish Tokyo with just a silver and a bronze was a huge disappointment.
We got complacent across the board. I’ve called it laziness before but it was more of an acceptance. It’s not that our rowers weren’t trying hard, but you need that hunger and desire, from top to bottom, to raise your level again.
As athletes, we like to put things in boxes and we think as long as I tick all these, I’ll win a medal. Rowing doesn’t work that way.
It was a wake-up call for everyone and now, in Paris, we have delivered.
Team GB won eight rowing medals at the Paris Olympics in a remarkable turnaround. Pictured: bronze medallists Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne (L) and Rebecca Wilde (R) after the double sculls
The men’s eight cliched gold as Britain delivered several years on from their Tokyo turmoil
It has been a combination of getting our administration, coaching and athletes right to deliver on the vital National Lottery funding.
When I rowed, I was concerned about how I was going to fill up my car with fuel. Colleagues needed to hold down other jobs to put food on the table, but were so tired they could only muster the energy to make a bowl of cereal.
Now, all the aspects have come together again. That’s why we’re now the second-best rowing nation in the world, behind only the Netherlands in the medal table. What’s great is I know we can be even better by the time Los Angeles comes around.
We have enjoyed so many magical moments in Paris but my favourite, by a long way, was Becky Wilde and Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne winning bronze in the women’s double sculls.
Nine weeks ago, the new combination in the pair had to go to the final qualifier to get to the Olympics. Once in Paris, they might not come last but they’d be close to it. To make the final, and win a medal – that was the performance of the Games.
Not the men’s eight winning gold on Saturday. Not the invincible women’s double of Emily Craig and Imogen Grant becoming Olympic champions after missing the podium in Tokyo by 0.01 seconds. Not even the women’s quadruple sculls winning on the line. All thrilling, but all rowing to their ability.
Sir Steve Redgrave (pictured) has saluted their efforts and is now relishing the Games in Los Angeles
The invincible women’s double of Emily Craig (left) and Imogen Grant (right) also became Olympic champions earlier this week
Craig and Grant banished their ghosts from Tokyo 2020 after the pair narrowly missed out on a podium place
No one gave Wilde and Hodgkins-Byrne a hope of the podium. Theirs was an Olympic story of graft and guts, to never give up and never let your dreams escape.
That is why it was so special. It gives everyone hope.
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