Rower Helen Glover says having family ‘makes you unstoppable’ as she is made OBE
The two-time gold medallist said she “never thought it was possible” for her to return to the Olympics after having three children.
Champion rower Helen Glover has said she “never thought it was possible” for her to return to the Olympics after having three children.
The two-time Olympic gold medallist was made an OBE at Windsor Castle on Tuesday for services to the sport.
Glover, who won in London and Rio, landed a rowing silver medal in the women’s four at the Paris Olympics, having given birth to a son in July 2018 and twins 18 months later.
The 38-year-old said: “Two of my Olympics were before having children and two were after, and coming back post-childbirth, I never thought that was possible.
“Whether you want to come back and be an Olympian or you want to come back to a hobby you used to enjoy, no woman should have being a mum as the barrier to that.
“I changed fundamentally as an athlete when I had children. Put that into the workplace, you become this force.
“You’re fiercely driven, you have this mindset shift that makes you unstoppable.”
Glover won the inaugural gold medal for Team GB in the women’s coxless pairs at the 2012 Olympics and is one of the most decorated female rowers in the history of British rowing, holding more than 20 gold medals.
“Watching my kids have a day at the castle and seeing it through their eyes is really, really special,” she said.
“When I was training I tried to not make them very aware of it, I never wanted them to feel on the back foot.
“But being out in Paris, seeing me on the podium, I want to really send home for them what the hard work is for and that they can aspire to be whatever they want to be.”
Paralympic archery champion Jodie Grinham was made an MBE on Tuesday.
Grinham, who became the first openly pregnant Paralympic medallist last year, said she had “everything going against me going into Paris”.
“It was a really difficult match because I was against a team-mate. I had bacterial meningitis that year, I missed the first selection, and obviously I was seven months pregnant,” she said.
“So I already had a list of things that were trying to almost go against what I needed to do.
“However, when push came to shove, I managed to exceed what I expected I could do, especially under those pressures.”
