One of Team GB’s Olympic heroes faces a sudden return to reality tomorrow – as she starts work as a doctor.
Rower Imogen Grant, who won gold in the lightweight double sculls in Paris, is to return to the hospital ward just three days after the end of the Games.
The 27-year-old told Good Morning Britain she was ‘excited’ to start work in Slough on Wednesday, however, and that she’d be taking her medal with her to show patients and colleagues.
Alongside partner Emily Craig, Grant claimed the gold medal at the The Vaires-sur-Marne nautical stadium on August 2, adding the title to their back-to-back world championship victories and European championship wins between 2022 and 2023.
Speaking to Good Morning Britain today, Grant said: ‘I’m really excited to start work. My trust has already put out an email to the co-workers and things. I’m probably going to have to take my medal to work for a bit until things die down.’
Imogen started studying medicine at Trinity College, Cambridge in 2014 and started rowing during her first year of university, signing up for a taster session in exchange for two free drinks in Freshers Week.
She rapidly fell in love with the sport and won three boat races for Cambridge in her time studying there.
She took a three-year break away from her course in order to train for Tokyo 2020, were she and Craig agonizingly missed out on a medal with a fourth place finish, but returned to graduate last year.
Since Tokyo the pair have been undefeated, coming away with eight gold medals from eight elite events.
Weight classes are set to disappear from the Olympic rowing program after the Paris Games, meaning Grant and Craig will have to find a new event before the next Olympiad.
But the pair are still hopeful they will be competing at Los Angeles 2028.
Craig told GMB: ‘We will have to wait and see. We will need to change disciplines and this has been such an incredible experience. Giving ourselves a bit of time to step back and take stock.’
With 327 athletes making up Team GB at the Paris Olympics this year, there were plenty of interesting characters who have normal jobs away from sport.
Jacob Fincham-Dukes, who finished fifth in the long jump, is a health and safety compliance manager; while 1,500m runner Georgia Bell works in cyber security.
Rose Harvey paused a career in law to become a marathon runner; Matthew Hudson-Smith used to work at Asda before becoming a 400m athlete; while sailor Hannah Snellgrove wrote obituaries in a newspaper and applied for a job with MI5.