Even before lifting an oar, Helen Glover had already provided one of Britains more memorable moments in Paris.
Last Friday night, Glover joined fellow flagbearer Tom Daley in a recreation of Titanics famous prow pose, thus lighting up an otherwise drab section of the opening ceremony.
It was only the latest example of Glovers ability to connect with her audience something that has made her the undisputed star of the British rowing team, and the first truly recognisable oar-wielder since Sir Matthew Pinsent was knighted.
This is an even bigger achievement than it sounds. Rowing has become such a bankable sport in Britain that success is almost taken for granted, and a triple Olympic champion such as Andrew Triggs Hodge can walk down Oxford Street without turning a single head.
Yet Glovers story has an extra dimension. Yes, Pinsent and Redgrave ruled the waves for a generation, but they never had to combine training with bringing up three children under six. They did not have to squeeze in squats and lunges while cooking the dinner, nor report at 3pm every weekday for the non-negotiable nursery pick-up.
Theres been a huge surge of support, said Glover, who spent four-and-a-half years away from the sport after the conclusion of the 2016 Olympics. Since I announced my comeback for Tokyo, I think parents in particular have got on board and backed me and really enjoyed seeing it. That bit has transcended the barrier of it being just rowing.
Theres lots of people who dont know a great deal about rowing or havent experienced much of it, but see the story as relatable. Its so inspiring, every single time I meet someone or read a message from someone. Im in disbelief that it happens, but its something that they see in me, and Im really, really proud to be that.
It would be understandable if Glover were to grow impatient with the constant focus on her family. Its not as if Andy Murray is always being asked about his four children.
But the thing about late-adoption sports like rowing, generally speaking, is that the athletes have a broader sense of perspective than gymnasts, say, or tennis players.
Glover can see the value in being a role model for working mothers, and she does everything she can to embrace it. In interviews like this one, she paints a picture of controlled chaos, of ketchup stains on Lycra, far from the pristine environment of British Rowings Caversham base.
Before you become a parent, you get used to the non-negotiables of being an athlete, Glover explained, via a video link from her home in Berkshire.
You turn up on time, you eat good food, you go to bed early. All that goes out the window when you have kids. Youre scraping by as best you can.
I always said: when I walk in the door, I dont want them to know whether Im having a good training day or a bad training day. Because I want to be Mum, you know?
Im actually pretty good at that. I think its more the other way around [thats difficult]. Like if one of my children is upset, or ill, or if theres anything going on, its really hard not to take that into training. But if Ive had a bad session, and then one of my kids won a certificate at school for being a good friend, suddenly its the best day. Its funny how your perspective changes and its all based on them.
There was a point, during midwinter training, when it all became too much. Glover found herself questioning whether she was giving her children [five-year-old Logan and three-year-olds Kit and Willow] the best version of herself.
She spoke to the team doctor and her coach James Harrris, querying whether the arrangement was working. In the end, though, she came back to the boat, as she has each time since she first saw a recruitment advert aimed at potential Sporting Giants in the pages of The Daily Telegraph, 17 years ago.
You dont pick rowing for having a nice time, day in, day out, or for having an easy life, she says. But the thing that draws me back in each time is that I still wake up every single morning and feel like Im the luckiest person in the world to get to do this. Even more so now Im doing it with a family, because its even harder to achieve.
Its weird, because maybe a decade ago Id have thought, This isnt going to bring out the best of me. This isnt the way to be the best in the world. But my results are the best theyve been and thats with very imperfect preparation. I do think some of that must be the mental side. This is no longer my most important job, which is now being a parent. But Im excited to still get to do this, and when I turn up Im going to commit so much to it because this is a choice.
As she approaches her fourth Olympics, 38-year-old Glover is very much the senior pro of British rowing. This squad experienced a high turnover after the triumphs of Rio, where they finished first in the table, followed by a disappointing haul in socially-distanced Tokyo. As a result, Glover is the only gold medallist still training at Caversham.
So what does she think about the recession that set in between 2017 and 2021, when Great Britain didnt just miss out on Olympic medals but went winless in the world championships as well? Coincidentally or not, this was the period when British sport prioritised athlete welfare over eyeballs-out training sessions. Amid the multiple disappointments of Tokyo, Sir Steve Redgrave told Telegraph Sport If we want a soft approach, we will have to expect softer results.
One of Britains other leading prospects for Paris, Emily Craig, admitted recently that, If youd told me, four years ago, about the training volumes were doing now, Id probably have laughed at you. But Glover offered a slightly different perspective.
Actually loads of people have said that, she explained, with reference to Craigs remark. To me, though. its quite familiar because it was what I was experiencing before. But I think [its different] for anyone who went through the Tokyo period.
I remember coming back [at the start of 2021] and thinking We are on about half the programme. Im sure it didnt used to be like that. But now weve got Andrew [Randell] as head coach, and hes come over with the Australian ethos of power per stroke, long mileage sessions. And Im like Okay, yeah, this what we were doing with Thommo.
Here she is referencing Paul Thompson, the Australian who guided the womens team until he left in 2018 in the wake of unproven bullying allegations.
It was a weird one for me, because I came back with less than a year to go [before Tokyo]. Because of Covid, I really didnt come into the building very much because I have the kids, so I couldnt isolate.
But I would say it felt different. There was definitely more of a drive for athletes wellbeing, and I think thats a real positive. But whether that temporarily affected performance, and the balance maybe wasnt quite in the right way ? But then again, I wasnt directly affected by any of that. So Im not sure.
The signs are all pointing to a renaissance in Vaires-sur-Marne, the rowing lake that stands an hour from Paris in the vicinity of Disneyland. Glover and her team-mates in the coxless four have not lost a race this year, winning both World Cup regattas in Varese and Lucerne and the European Championships, in Szeged, Hungary, by comfortable margins. Another dominant performance in Sundays Olympic heats saw them outpace their Dutch rivals by more than a second.
Does Glover ever think back to that Sporting Giants advert in the Telegraph the one that her mother spotted, all the way back in 2007? She filled the form out hurriedly and slightly carelessly, as a gang of mates waited downstairs, all dressed up for a night out on the town. At 5ft 10in, she was not even quite tall enough to qualify. But her aerobic capacity and phenomenal work ethic more than made up the difference.
Honestly, its such a surreal thing to think about because its a genuine Sliding Doors moment, says Glover, who kicked off the London 2012 gold-rush when she won the coxless pairs with her partner Heather Stanning, and then defended that title at Rio in 2016. Of course I might never have applied but more, I think of how close I was to not accepting the place once I was offered it.
I was on a training placement, sat in the office. When the phone rang, I genuinely pressed answer not knowing whether I was gonna say yes or no. I was just like, Im gonna go with a gut feeling.
When they asked me what I wanted to do, I just had this sudden feeling of, I dont think Im going to make it. This is a ridiculous thing for me to even try. But I pictured myself sat on the sofa watching London and thinking I never even tried. And that would have haunted me more than, you know, trying and failing. So I just said, Yeah, okay. Ill start rowing in Bath.
The whole thought experiment takes Glover down some unexpected byroads.
Without rowing, she would have continued along a different sort of training pathway, with the likely result that she would now be teaching PE at a secondary school in Plymouth, rather than living with TV presenter Steve Backshall and their three littleuns on a leafy branch of the Thames, not far from where Kenneth Grahame wrote his stories about Ratty and Mole messing around in boats.
You know, if London hadnt got the Games, and Sporting Giants hadnt got that money to look for new talent, it just Id never even met a rower in my life. It wouldnt have ever been something Id have come into contact with.
I never would have met my husband if I wasnt rowing. We were training out of Longridge on the Thames, and he kayaks there, so when we met he was living down on the stretch of water that we row on.
What Im most proud of is all the people whove been affected by my story, and the way its given them a boost and shown what can be done. I hope I can be a vehicle for change, which is something I didnt expect when I came back to rowing in search of a result for my personal satisfaction. To see it become so much bigger than that is mind-blowing to me.
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