Team GB’s Helen Glover ready to add British sporting history to Olympics flagbearer honour
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Helen Glover feels that being chosen as flagbearer has boosted her hopes of becoming the first British mum-of-three to win an Olympic medal.
The 38-year-old got her campaign off to a perfect start, combining with Rebecca Shorten, Sam Redgrave and Esme Booth for a smooth victory in the heats of the women’s four.
The last four British athletes to get the Opening Ceremony honour have reached the podium and Glover is inspired to make it five. “It actually gave me a massive boost and I didn’t really expect it to,” said Glover.
“You just walk that little bit taller and feel that little bit prouder. When you come to the Games, there’s lots of predictability and things you know are going to happen. That is something I did not know, expect, or predict. It’s one of the few things that is thrown at you and it’s not a negative – it’s a positive surprise.”
In Thursday’s final, Glover will race to make British sporting history in what looks set to be a tight battle with a strong Dutch crew.
Three children and two Olympic gold medals later, she still feels the same on the start line as she did at London 2012.
“The weird thing is, if you transport yourself into the ‘me’ on any start line in the last decade, there’s not much difference,” said Glover, who is one of over 1,000 elite athletes on UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded World Class Programme, allowing them to train full time, have access to the world’s best coaches and benefit from pioneering medical support – which has been vital on their pathway to the Paris 2024 Games. . “The way I think, the way I feel, the way I act, it’s just me.
“Whether I’ve got three children or whether I’m at my first Olympics, it just feels like I’m in a place where I’m ready to go out and do what I can.”
Everything points to a bumper British medal haul at Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium and seven crews have already safely negotiated their heats in the regatta as a whole.
Emily Craig and Imogen Grant were so relaxed in winning their women’s lightweight double sculls heat that the former’s thoughts turned to food.
“I got quite hungry in the middle of it,” said Craig, who will race again in the semi-finals on Wednesday. “I was just thinking about lunch – dreamy.”
The men’s pair of Tom George and Ollie Wynne-Griffith watched their closest rivals Switzerland squeezed out of the automatic qualification places in the first of three heats.
After an early scare from Germany, George and Wynne-Griffith held their nerve to ease into Wednesday’s semi-finals.
“I think we executed pretty well,” said George. “We knew people would jump out, it’s the Olympics, the Germans clearly had a remit to not come last and get through to the semi-final. We stayed really calm.”
The men’s four made a solid start and are determined to write their own Olympic history in the final on Thursday.
Team GB won the event five times in a row from 2000 to 2020 with legendary names like Steve Redgrave, Matthew Pinsent and Andy Triggs-Hodge to the fore.
After the crown was lost in Tokyo due to a glaring steering error, Freddie Davidson, David Ambler, Matt Aldridge and Oli Wilkes are campaigning to bring the title back to Britain.
Their bid to do so began as they finished second in their heat behind a speedy Kiwi crew, who will head into the final as favourites alongside USA.
“We know about the legacy,” said Aldridge.
“When we first came into this combination, we didn’t bother looking at what comes before us because we’re not them. We can’t impact history and legacy, we can just do our own thing.
“Regardless of what happened in Tokyo, we want to build our own boat, our own rhythm and our own crew and make our own history.”
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