In an exclusive and wide-ranging interview, JRN had the opportunity to sit down with double Olympic and multi-world and European champion Helen Glover to discuss her motivations for returning to the GB squad, the discoveries she’s made along with way, and what she hopes to achieve.
For years, Helen’s journey to Olympic glory was the default cover story for British Rowing’s World Class Start Programme – the ground-breaking talent identification and development initiative supported by National Lottery funding. She took up rowing in 2008 and went on to win her first high-brow race at Henley Women’s in 2009, where she won the senior women’s single.
Her international success can largely be credited to ex-light Blue and seven-time Boat Race winner Robin Williams. Williams began coaching Helen and Heather in July 2010, a time when they were regarded as spares for the women’s eight, having placed 9th and 5th at the first two World Cups that year. Four months later, the pairing won a silver medal at the 2010 World Rowing Championships – a testament to Robin’s coaching and the tenacity and strength of both Helen and Heather.
Their rapid – and sustained – rise to world dominance meant they were strong favourites for gold in London. They didn’t disappoint fans.
Speaking on the journey to London and later Rio, Helen describes a dichotomous world, one of “uncomfortable enjoyment… I loved the pressure cooker were in, but hated it at the same time.”
Helen is of course famed for her success in the pair, a boat that she’s “loved being back in,” – no surprises there, considering her intimate knowledge of how to finesse the smallest sweep boat has led her to three European golds, five World Championship golds, two Olympic golds and a trunk of other trophies, pots and medals.
Many have described the pressure that returning to elite sport can bear upon the athlete. Still, it seems for Helen and her new partner Dr Polly Swann, that their previous pedigree and ‘extracurricular activities’ have allowed them to “enjoy the day-to-day” more than ever. “We’re both passionate and fiery, and we’ve both chosen to be here – we have a different perspective to before.”
Whether the Glover-Swann pairing is to be the ultimate duo is yet to be seen, but their performance on the first day of the European Championships – the fastest women’s pair by 2 seconds – would suggest that the reports from Caversham insiders that the pair is ‘very, very quick’ are well justified.
Polly is herself a successful athlete, having claimed a silver in the women’s eight in Rio, along with a smattering of World Cup and university medals. Speaking after her successful heat at the Europeans, she was buoyant about their early performance at Varese, telling reporters, “We got out cleanly, but we’re not showing all our cards yet – we’ve got more to give. It’s just so nice to race!” Beyond her strength on the water, Swann is a junior doctor in the NHS, having completed her undergraduate medical degree at Edinburgh University in 2019.
Helen describes her experience of returning as like “turning up to school on the first day after the summer. You don’t know where to sit or where you coat peg is!”
She goes on to paint a picture of a very different Caversham to the one she left, saying, “There’s still a lot of people on the team I don’t know, and normally I’d get to chat to them over breakfast, but the bubble system means there’s still plenty of faces I’m not familiar with.”
It’s not just covid-secure measures that have transformed the atmosphere at GB, with Helen describing a team that is “young… but chomping at the bit to get out there.”
Despite these changes, Helen’s taken care to cultivate herself as an individual to whom other members of the team can turn: “At London I was one of the only ones that wasn’t an Olympian. This time it’s the opposite… I want to make the team go faster.”
Guru, mentor, consultant – term it as you will, Helen is determined to apply her experience of the international circuit not only in her Olympic journey but also for the benefit of those in the wider squad: “This team is young, so there are relatively few individuals you can go to – I want to fill that gap.”
Her return to rowing has so far been hugely successful, perhaps not unexpected, given her erg scores are “very close to where they were in 2016.” What motivated Helen to return to the team is well documented in the national press’ headlines, but too often, the nuanced perspective shift that managing a family provided her with is missed.
Helen began to train officially under the British flag at the start of 2021, but in truth, she’d never taken her foot off the pedal in the wake of Rio. Commenting mainly on how she was doing more “multi-sport training”, she believes it has contributed to a new – and perhaps improved – physicality that propelled her through to a spot on the team.
Having begun to challenge herself on the erg in the latter part of spring 2020, Helen made a pact with herself: “If at the end of the summer I’m still enjoying this, I’m still going fast and – most crucially – the children never suffer, I’ll approach GB at Christmas.” Christmas rolled around, and with her requisites for re-trialling fulfilled, she approached Caversham bosses. And the rest, as they say, is history.
The one constant through Helen’s interview was her unwillingness to allow her career to impact the lives of her three children, with the ultimate aim of simply being “the best mum I can be.” She stresses that balancing a life with her husband and children and returning to the squad is “not something I could have done under the normal system.”
Perhaps somewhat paradoxically, it was the added commitment to training that allowed Helen to better balance her family and professional life. Extolling the virtues of a rigorous regime, saying, “when I come back from Caversham having done a couple of hours on the water I feel fulfilled. Then, when I come home I can throw myself into being a mum.”
“It’s changed my perspective on rowing,” Helen says, “before Rio, rowing was my life; now it’s just a small part of it.” A balance that many would suggest is far more conducive to a happier and healthier life.
At his stage, Helen’s primary aim is “to show my children that you can do anything.. especially for my little girl; I’d love for this to be somewhere in her mind, and to know that anything is possible.”
She’s unlikely to compete on the international circuit beyond Tokyo, saying, “the Olympics will end at the perfect time; my 14-month old twins are yet to see the world beyond the front door.”
“I have no plans to go to Paris… but I said that about Tokyo…”
That’s all for now. If you’re hungry for more, check out any of our other pieces from The Catch, listen to the latest podcast episode, or flick through our race previews.
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