Helen Glover, two-time Olympic Champion, Team GB opening ceremony flag bearer and Paris 2024 Olympic silver medallist; Lauren Rowles, three-time Paralympic Champion and the world’s most successful Paralympic rower ever; and two-time Paralympic Champion cox, Erin Kennedy, who is also recognised for her breast cancer awareness work, have all been awarded OBEs (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the King’s New Year’s Honours List.

In addition, seven Olympic and Paralympic Champions have been awarded MBEs (Member of the Order of the British Empire). The Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic gold medal winners receiving MBEs are Lauren Henry, Hannah Scott, Lola Anderson, and Georgie Brayshaw from the Women’s quadruple sculls (W4x); Emily Craig and Imogen Grant from the Lightweight Women’s double sculls (LW2x) and Gregg Stevenson from the PR2 Mixed double sculls (PR2 Mix2x).

GB Rowing Team Director of Performance Louise Kingsley said, “A huge congratulations to the athletes who have been awarded OBEs and MBEs in the King’s New Year Honours List. The entire squad produced record breaking results at both the Olympics and Paralympics in the Summer and have continued to drive awareness and interest in the sport since their return home, by inspiring the next generation and giving back to the community with club visits, school visits and charity work. I’m very proud to see so many of them being recognised with Honours and it’s a fitting way to top off a very successful year!”

Long-serving 91ÌÒÉ« Umpire David Biddulph has also been awarded a BEM (British Empire Medal) for his services to rowing. He first qualified as a national umpire 45 years ago, in 1979, gaining Multi-Lane endorsement in 1992 and FISA (now World Rowing) status in 1995, and umpired the Men’s pair final at London 2012. David has been a prolific volunteer as an umpire on the domestic competition circuit and is also known to many in the rowing community as the creator of one of the earliest rowing information websites, which remains an essential source of competition calendar details, obituaries, and results.

91ÌÒÉ« CEO Alastair Marks said, “Volunteers like David, whose continued dedication and contribution have had a lasting impact on the sport, are highly valued by the community. It’s truly gratifying to see him receive the recognition he so richly deserves.”

Photos: Benedict Tufnell and Team GB

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History was in the making for the Women’s four (W4-) of Helen Glover, Esme Booth, Sam Redgrave and Rebecca Shorten, who won GB’s first medal in their boat class on the sixth day of the Olympic Rowing Regatta in Paris.

Holding tight to the leading Dutch boat through the entire race and trading bow balls in the last 250m, it was the closest of margins across the line, but ultimately a silver medal for GB.

Four time Olympian and three time Olympic medallist Helen Glover said: “You expect tight racing in an Olympic final and that’s what we got today. You just have to put it all out there and have no regrets that you could’ve done something differently. We can hold our heads high because we raced together with lots of heart – we should be proud coming away with a medal.

“There are mixed emotions right now – on the one hand we had the potential to win, on the other hand we know that nothing is a given. For the rest of my boat this is their first ever Olympic medal – that’s a huge achievement and we have to celebrate it.

“My family are thrilled – beaming smiles from them in the grandstand. They’ve loved every minute of watching their mummy race at the Olympics. Mathilda Hodgkins Byrne and I have worked so hard to break into the team as mums and now we’re reaping the reward. We’ve fought those battles now, so every single mother who comes after us will have a journey based on performance rather than proving that they can do it.”

Rebecca said: “Obviously everyone wants a gold medal, but this is still a fantastic achievement in its own right. This field is a tough one full of fantastic women, and we’re a part of that. It means everything to have an Olympic medal around your neck – I’ve loved the journey I’ve been on with this boat since before Tokyo. This also means so much for Northern Ireland – we’ve had medals for the last two days (Hannah Scott winning gold in the Women’s quad) and it’s so good for the country.”

Esme said: “Sam and I both came in after Tokyo and our journey has always felt like we’re building towards something special. It really does mean a lot to me – my first Olympics, my first Olympic medal. We went out there, followed our race plan and gave it everything we had.

“I really trust in these three girls and our coach James and I believe that we delivered our best performance today. What’s next is a massive question – there was so much sacrifice leading into this that everyone wants to go home and see their families. You need to take time and reflect about what’s next, but LA 2028 is a very exciting prospect.”

Photo credit: Steve McArthur / Row360

The Team GB Rowing Squad’s second medal came in the Men’s four (M4-); an exciting bronze won by Oli Wilkes, David Ambler, Matt Aldridge and Freddie Davidson. Racing in a stacked field, the four moved up from sixth place through the 500m to finish behind the USA boat in gold, with silver going to the New Zealanders.

Freddie said: “It’s been a difficult road to get here but I’m immensely proud of the race we put together today. We kept our heads in the boat whilst we were fighting through the back of the field and we’ve got a medal around our necks to show for it. Last year we had a smooth run of things and this year we’ve had more challenges. It’s just testament to how quick those guys are. The Kiwis and the USA were absolutely unreal and we’ve got to take our hats off to them, shake their hands and say well done.

David said: “I sensed we were dead last out of the blocks and we might have been. It doesn’t matter where you are at the start, it depends where you are at the end. We watched the Women’s quad yesterday – that was a good race to have in the back of our minds as a confidence builder. It was inspiring to see, and our coach Christian (men’s coach Christian Felkel) told us to focus on that.”

Oli said: “This has been a long time coming and it hasn’t been a smooth ride for me – a couple of years ago I wasn’t sure I was going to make it. I was a reserve in Tokyo, the following year I got Covid and was replaced for the rest of the season, so two years out from the Olympics it wasn’t looking good for me. The rest is history. We went unbeaten last season, World Champions, and I’m so proud and so pleased to have been part of this crew. We’ve been through thick and thin together, I’d say. It’s really what teamwork is made of, and friendship. It’s hard to put it into words, but I’m immensely proud. I’ll keep an open mind about what’s next but I’m really proud of what we’ve done. It’s been epic to be with these guys.”

Matt said: “We got to the point a couple of weeks out where I was like, you know what, we’re not going into this as favourites anymore and to me that took a huge amount of pressure off. And I think that makes this even sweeter. Of course you dream of winning, but I’m incredibly proud of the performance we put out. This has made the last three and a bit years completely worthwhile.”

Photo credit: Steve McArthur / Row360

Six weeks ago the Women’s double sculls (W2x) of Becky Wilde and Mathilda Hodgkins Byrne didn’t know they would be at the Olympics, let alone on the start line of the A Final. Coming through the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta in May (known as the ‘Regatta of Death’ in the rowing world) as a newly-formed crew, it was the podium and a phenomenal bronze medal to end the season for this crew and their coach Tom Pattichis.

The double went out like the clappers and led through the first 500m of the race. Thereafter they kept contact on the leading crews from New Zealand and Romania right down the lake, holding off multiple charges from the Dutch crew and crossing the line cleanly to win their medal.

Mathilda, who became the first mum to win a medal for Team GB rowing, said: “I don’t have any words. We weren’t meant to qualify and now we’re bronze medallists?! For rowing and sport in general, having a child shouldn’t be the end of your career. Helen and I are proving that. The support around us has shown us what is possible – I couldn’t have done this without the flexibility and understanding of both Becky and our coach Tom. This time last year I wasn’t even back in centralised training and Becky wasn’t part of the team, so the three of us together with Andy’s programme (women’s head coach, Andrew Randell) now have a bronze medal!”

“My son Freddie stops the pressure of rowing from becoming overwhelming. Even at Qualifiers I just thought ‘it’s ok no matter what happens, I’ll see him in 45 minutes.’ He has no idea his mum has just won an Olympic bronze medal – he’ll be told about it in years to come and know that he was part of that journey.”

Becky Wilde’s focus in her boat was so absolute that she didn’t believe they’d won bronze until the scoreboard lit up. At only her third international competition, she said: “It’s still sinking in – it’ll take a while to sink in. It was in the back of our minds that we could medal given what we were doing in training, but to actually go out there and prove that we can do it is incredible. Our Head Coach said to us at Final Qualifiers that there is always one crew that surprises, and we wanted to be that crew. To have done that makes all the hard work we’ve put in with our coach Tom worth it – he’s been incredible, and we have to thank him for that.”

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Day two also saw the Men’s pair and Lightweight Women’s double win their heats, progressing to semi finals.

The Women’s four (W4-) of Rebecca Shorten, Sam Redgrave, Esme Booth and Helen Glover were dominant in their heat, crossing the line three seconds ahead of New Zealand. Speaking after the race, about competing at her fourth Olympics and fresh from being Team GB flag bearer at the opening ceremony, Helen said: “If you were to transport yourself into the ‘me’ of any start line over the past decade, there’s not much difference. The way I think, the way I feel and act – it’s just me. Whether I’m at my first Olympic Games or I have three children, it just feels like a place where I’m ready to go out and do what I can.

“It’s got to be said that I’m getting pulled down the track by three amazing women, I wouldn’t be here without them. Sam, Esme and Rebecca are phenomenal in their own right, everyone brings something to the crew.

“Carrying the flag gave me an extra boost I didn’t expect. I almost walk that little bit taller and feel a little bit prouder. The Games are predictable, you know what’s going to happen, so that was something I didn’t predict. It’s one of the few things that could be thrown at you that’s not a negative, but a positive. ”

Esme added: “It’s an amazing thing to go out and race with Helen who has so much experience. In training and the lead in she’s helped us tick all the boxes we need to. We felt pretty prepared going out there, we know our race plan and what we want to do. So we felt confident.”

The Men’s four (M4-) was a tight race with Oli Wilkes, David Ambler, Matt Aldridge and Freddie Davidson finishing in second, behind New Zealand, to take the automatic qualification spot. David said: “We can take a lot of confidence from that heat. Obviously there’s a quick crew out there in the kiwis, and the rest of the world to be honest. But we were happy with it because we feel we’re building through the season step by step. We have work to do and three days to do it, but it’s a positive step and we’re into the final, which is the main thing. Bring on the final on Thursday.”

Imogen Grant described her Lightweight Women’s double sculls (LW2x) heat performance with Emily Craig, as “Calm, controlled and crossed the line first!” The win saw them progress to the semi final on Wednesday. Imogen added: “Our coach Darren (Whiter) said to us this morning ‘Go out and enjoy it,’ and whenever he says that we turn around and go, ‘Well, we’re going to do a bloody good job first and enjoy it afterwards’. I enjoyed it and I enjoyed moving out on the other crews. We’ve had a really good six weeks. Lucerne was a good race for us and it’s exciting to think that we’ve only gotten better since then. We’ve had some really good pieces in training and depending on what conditions are thrown at us, I think we’re ready. We have a huge amount of confidence in ourselves. I can’t think of another crew in the event that has experienced as many different types of races as we have, whatever wind direction or other crews we have to race is always a race we can reference. We can take confidence from past performances.”

Emily said: “We are very process driven and that’s the main thing we focus on. We don’t want to think about what the other crews are doing. All we can do is go as fast as we can from A to B and hopefully that will be faster than the rest of the world.”

Also winning their heat and through to the semi final were Ollie Wynne-Griffith and Tom George in the Men’s pair (M2-). Tom said: “I think we executed our plan pretty well. We knew people would jump out – it’s the Olympics after all, but we stayed calm. We can always be better and I think that’s important and actually a good thing, you don’t want to have the perfect race in the heat and think ‘where do we go from here’ and we earnt the right to relax a little bit in that last 500m and keep it long and loose and take it to the line.”

Ollie added: “We’re happy with our first race. I think if you’ve got to the line first in your heat at the Olympics Games there’s got to be a certain element of confidence. We could be sharper out of the blocks, we want to be dominant in every part of our race and we probably didn’t do that today so we can work on that. Little bits in the last 500m we didn’t have to do today, but it’s nice to have things to work on.”

The Women’s pair (W2-) of Chloe Brew and Rebecca Edwards missed out on the automatic qualification spots with a fourth place finish. They will race the repechage on Monday. Rebecca said: “We’ve shifted our race plan slightly. We just got it slightly off the beat in the second 500m but I’m already looking forward to tomorrow because I know we can perform well. I’m excited about it.” Chloe added: “It was a bit surreal. Paris has been amazing so far but I’m just excited to see what we can do in the repechage. We’ve had the best training camp ever and haven’t missed a session.”

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Helen Glover (Marlow RC), racing for Team GB in the Women’s Four alongside Esme Booth (Leander Club/Stratford upon Avon BC), Sam Redgrave (Leander Club/Norwich RC) and Rebecca Shorten (Imperial College BC) is the first woman rower to have the honour of carrying the flag.

“I called my husband Steve (Backshall), I think he was crying,” said Glover. “I called my Mum who definitely cried. I haven’t spoken to my Dad yet. It’s a pinch-me moment, because I had four years out of the sport. From Rio to Tokyo, I had retired. If it wasn’t for that ambition to come back and to prove people wrong, and to do it with kids, I’d be watching on television.

“Imagine if you’d told me in the middle of Covid when I had two newborn twins and a toddler, that if I did all of this, I’d be leading out the team as a flagbearer? I just feel like it’s something I would never have believed.”

Matthew Pinsent famously carried the flag with his arm ramrod straight at the Sydney Games in 2000 – though Glover is happy to share the load with Daley.

“Maybe if my arm gets tired, I’ll let Tom do some of the heavy lifting,” she joked.

“A lot of the time, when I think about my Olympic memories, I have flashpoints of thinking about the flagbearer. I remember them, I recognise them. It’s that moment that’s consistent with each Games. It means a lot and I’ll probably get in touch with some of the guys who have done it before and ask for any tips.”

91ÌÒÉ« Director of Performance and Rowing Team Leader in Paris, Louise Kingsley, said: “Several rowing athletes have been chosen as Team GB flag bearers over the years, most recently Mohammed (Moe) Sbihi in Tokyo 2020, so it’s fantastic that our sport is once again recognised and that Helen has been chosen alongside Tom Daley for Paris 2024.

“Not only is Helen a two-time Olympic champion, she’s also broken boundaries by proving that it’s possible to successfully return to the sport after having children. She’s a true ambassador for rowing, mothers and the Olympic movement and we hope that her family, athletes across Team GB and the whole Nation, enjoy seeing her and Tom Daley carry the flag and lead Team GB along the Seine at the opening ceremony.”

Meet the Team GB Rowing Squad

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