Olympic rowing champion Helen Glover aiming for Paris Games
LONDON (AP) — Two-time Olympic rowing champion Helen Glover is making another comeback in a bid to qualify for a fourth Summer Games, saying she will be representing a “whole community of parents" in elite sport.
The 36-year-old Glover won a gold medal in the coxless pair in 2012 and 2016, then reversed a decision to retire to place fourth at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 — one year after giving birth to twins. She became the first mother to compete in rowing for Britain at the Olympics and afterward said: “This really is it.”
Now, Glover — a mother of three — wants to return to the water again ahead of next year's Paris Games, saying she still feels the need to be challenged.
“I think it’s possible that I could be in Paris at the age of 38 and be better than I ever have been,” Glover said, “and that’s what I want to work with the team to become.”
Glover has stayed somewhat involved in rowing, earning a silver medal in the beach sprint event of the world rowing coastal championships.
That ignited her motivation to perhaps have another shot at the Olympics — something encouraged by her husband.
“I feel like we’re at a prime time for mothers in sport,” Glover said. “All this big picture stuff, all this trying to change the face of women in sport, can be quite daunting and quite big. Then I think of the simplicity of looking up and seeing my kids in the grandstand and I think this is going to be cool whatever the outcome.”
Glover hasn't specified which event she will look to compete in.
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