After one of the most dramatic last-ditch rowing victories in Britain’s Olympic history, Lola Anderson’s thoughts turned to a diary entry she had written and then discarded when she was 13.
Inspired by London 2012, she had noted that it would be her dream to one day win an Olympic rowing title. Embarrassed, she hastily chucked it away, only for her father Don, terminally ill with cancer seven years later, to unexpectedly hand it back to her after he had found it in the bin and put it away for safekeeping.
With a quadruple sculls gold medal hanging round her neck after pipping the Netherlands in an extraordinary late surge, Anderson’s voice cracked with emotion as she recalled her journey and offered a rallying cry to the Olympic champions of the future.
“I threw that away because I didn’t believe,” she said, fighting back tears alongside her team-mates Lauren Henry, Hannah Scott and Georgie Brayshaw. “I was 13 at the time so why would you believe?
Young girls out there struggle a little bit to see themselves as these strong athletic individuals but that’s changing now
“Young girls out there struggle a little bit to see themselves as these strong athletic individuals but that’s changing now. You’ve got more and more women taking part in sport. My dad saw it before I did and saw the potential I had. I know he’d be very, very proud if he was here.
“It sounds silly because I’m nowhere near that point, but all I can think of now, given that my journey started with my dad, is how much I can’t wait to show this to my children one day and inspire them. I haven’t even got a boyfriend! But this is something I want for my family current and want for my family to come.”
For almost the entirety of their voyage along the 2,000m course on the outskirts of Paris, Britain’s fate seemed destined to be silver. The reigning world and European
champions had rapidly found themselves in second place behind the fast-starting Dutch quartet, whose advantage rarely looked like fading.
Even with 500m remaining, the British boat was still more than a second down, only to produce the most sensational late surge, seizing the lead with the very last stroke. Victory came in 6 minutes 16.31 seconds – just 0.15sec ahead of the devastated Dutch, who suffered a sense of deja vu after GB had pulled off the identical trick to defeat them at last year’s World Championships.
“It was amazing,” said Henry. “I could feel we were moving on the Dutch crew so I was calling to the girls: ‘We need to go now’.
“We just have 100% belief in the race and 100% belief in each other. We know that if we deliver our best we’ll get an outcome like this. If we ever believe it’s over then it is over. The moment we lose belief, we’ve lost the race. So, no matter how far behind we are, we always have belief until we cross that finish line.”
Victory, which was only confirmed by a photo finish, was the perfect way to begin the banishment of Team GB’s Tokyo Olympics rowing debacle on the first day of finals at the Paris regatta.
Britain managed just two minor medals in Japan three years ago, where their worst Olympic rowing performance since 1972 was blighted by public infighting. But the customary dominance has started to return in recent years, and the women’s quadruple sculls have now completed their set of Olympic, world and European titles.
They are far from alone in the British ranks. The expectation is that Emily Craig and Imogen Grant might soon join them atop the podium after easing to victory in their lightweight women’s double sculls semi-final on Wednesday morning.
The duo have become one of British rowing’s leading lights and came into these Games unbeaten since finishing an agonising fourth in Tokyo, where they were just 0.5sec behind the gold medal winners and 0.01sec away from a podium spot.
Eager not to let the moment of British female rowing glory pass by, Anderson had a message for any young girls who might have been inspired, just as she was at London 2012.
“There’s nothing unfeminine about being strong, getting athletic and enjoying being aggressive,” she said. “Young girls out there are now starting to explore the joys of sport, how freeing it is and how much confidence it gives you. I just want all girls out there to feel the same way we do today.”.
