Olympics Team GB rower Helen Glover is this week's Radio Times cover star
The sporting star reveals what keeps her motivated - and it's not just about winning gold.
© Richard Grassie
- Shem Law
Published: Tuesday, 30 July 2024 at 10:37 am
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While watching the Olympics, it never ceases to amaze me how some of the greatest athletes fell into their chosen sports by accident. If a parent hadn't taken them along to a sibling's swimming lessons, or a friend hadn't cajoled them into trying gymnastics, Team GB might be missing half the great Olympians it has competing in Paris this year.
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In Helen Glover's case, the UK had just been awarded the London 2012 Games and she happened upon a talent programme to find possible competitors. Being tall, she imagined she might make the grade as a volleyball player or similar. But it wasn't until a rowing coach picked her out of a line-up that she discovered she had found her sport, and even when she got the call that she had been chosen for the training programme she was in two minds about accepting. A real sliding doors moment.
It makes one wonder if there isn't someone out there who can run much faster than Usain Bolt but who simply wasn't in the right place at the right time...
More importantly, Glover also talks about how more women and girls should be encouraged to try sport. Very few people will be as determined or successful as her, but that's not her point. She spreads the word about sport to children all over the country in the hope that it might light a spark in someone who had never dreamt of taking part in sport and give them the chance to compete at any level.
Read the full interview with Glover in the new issue of Radio Times magazine, out now – subscribe to Radio Times here.
Also in this week's Radio Times:
- Don't miss the extraordinary story of 102-year-old Selma van de Perre and her exploits in the Dutch resistance during the Second World War.
- The celebrity couple Emma and Matt Willis unveil their new Netflix dating show - Love Is Blind: UK.
- Violinist Nicola Benedetti reflects on her music career and her role as director of the Edinburgh International Festival.
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Authors
Shem Law
Shem Law is the brand editor of Radio Times, and the 20th person to hold that esteemed position in over 100 years. He wasn't allowed a television growing up, but over the years he has rather overcompensated for that fact.
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