'My goal is to be stronger than ever'

GB rowing icon and mum-of-three Helen Glover MBE tells us why she's breaking all the rules with her Olympic comeback

- By Joanna Ebsworth

Olympian. Mother. And now game-changer. That’s Helen Glover in a nutshell. Not content with winning two Olympic gold medals across the 2012 and 2016 games, and making history by becoming the first mum to row for Team GB at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the rowing champion has announced she is back in training with the aim of competing at Paris 2024.

Glover will be 38 years old when the Paris Olympics take place in just over a year’s time, and yet she is far from phased. In fact, she’s planning to be stronger than she was in her prime. ‘I have to believe I can come back better than I ever have been, otherwise what’s the point?’ she explains. ‘If I’m coming back to accept being slower than before, I think that’s really unambitious and not very motivating, so my goal is to be stronger than ever.’

BACK ON TRACK

Sounds incredible, but we're wondering what changed. When Women's Fitness last spoke to Glover in 2022, she was taking a break from competitive rowing, relishing spending time with her three children - four-year-old Logan and three-year-old twins Kit and Willow - and enjoying other physical challenges (in 2017 alone, Glover ran a marathon, completed a half Ironman and finished a 124-mile kayak race!).

She was telling us how she had finally found balance in later life since pausing her career as a full-time athlete. So, why decide to stage a sporting comeback now?