The Olympic Rowing Run-In | Part Four with Zoe De Toledo

After years of training, millions of strokes taken and thousands of miles rowed, the Olympic regatta is now over. For the athletes, priorities immediately change. Depending on the outcome of your final performance, the hours and days immediately after racing ends can be an overwhelming whirlwind of interviews, parties, and appearances. However, it’s soon time to catch up with family and friends, to say yes to all the opportunities you’ve been missing for months, and to think about what happens next for you.

Whilst the buzz and energy of the Olympics will carry you through the second week, as soon as you arrive on home soil a sense of loss can quickly hit, especially if you know you won’t be having this experience again. Having spent months almost permanently surrounded by eight other women, usually dressed in the same outfit as me, it was very strange to find myself suddenly alone.

Deciding on the next steps is usually the hardest part. You are stripped away from the simplicity of training for a singular goal, and without that safety net, the future can look very daunting.

For me, this was already certain. I knew I would be starting medical school a few short weeks after returning from Rio de Janeiro, and that I wouldn’t be returning to elite sport.

Stepping away into ‘civilian’ life offered some stark contrasts. One day I left the library to walk into town and fire the starting gun for the Oxford Half Marathon, another I rushed straight from lectures into London to meet the late Queen at Buckingham Palace.

Life changed significantly. However, the lessons I learnt competing in elite sport stayed with me, and continue to inform my medical practices to this day. It may be a cliché, but the skills we gain taking part in elite sport, especially in a team sport like rowing, really are transferable into everyday life.

Perseverance, commitment, being able to give and receive feedback, communication, focus, and leadership, will play a part in most people’s professional lives, regardless of vocation.

For those of us watching from home or the banks in Paris, there has now been time to reflect on the performances we saw on the water at the Stade Nautique de Vaires-sur-Marne. For me, there were three stand-out performances of this regatta.

The first was the gold medal snatched by Great Britain’s women’s quad from perennial favourites The Netherlands. They started with a solid, confident, comfortable looking win in their heat to qualify directly for the final. Everyone knew they could pull off a gold, the first for GB in this Olympic event, but the Dutch crew went out to lead the race. GB did not flinch, and they led for the only stroke of the race that matters, the very last one.

The second was the performance of the Romanian women. They started the regatta under a dark cloud after exploiting loopholes in the rules, which allowed them to enter a larger team to secure extra accreditations but then saw them change crew names to a small squad with a gruelling doubling-up schedule.

This was managed masterfully, and the Romanian women lined up to start the women’s eight final with two silvers and a fourth-place finish already in the bag. The race they put together was reminiscent of the golden years of Romanian eights rowing, they have returned to the top of the game.

Thirdly, the British women’s double. This crew only secured their berth at these Games a few short months ago at the final qualification regatta and walked away with a bold bronze medal.

The crew showed the power of what an ‘unknown’ crew can do. They took the regatta by surprise, stayed focused, kept things simple, and landed themselves on the podium with a powerful show of determination and belief.

Now what for us rowing fans who are bereft of more Olympic racing for the next 4 years? Soon we will see the LA 2028 generation take to the water, as the U19 and U23 crews compete in their World Championships.

The next Olympiad will pose some interesting challenges – racing over 1500m at The Games, and the introduction of Beach Sprints. I for one can’t wait to see how it all plays out. See you in 4 years!

About The Author

Zoe De Toledo

De Toledo steered Great Britain to an unforgettable silver medal at the Rio Olympics in 2016. Earlier that year, she was a part of a GB’s women’s eight that were crowned European champions. The University of Oxford graduate and Boat Race cox has also raced at the U23 and junior world championships, winning a gold and bronze medal respectively.

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