By Milly McEvoy, Sportsbeat
HELEN Glover must forget about what has gone before as she aims to make more history in Paris, says double Olympic champion James Cracknell.
Truro’s Glover has the chance to become only the third British woman to have won three Olympic golds, as she looks to take part in her fourth Games in a new boat, the women’s four.
If she does so, she will become an Olympic champion as a mother of three, a feat never done before by a Team GB female athlete.
“I don’t think Helen will want anything made of her story,” Cracknell, who'll be working with Eurosport and discovery+ for their Olympics rowing coverage, said.
“I think she is just another athlete in the women’s four.
“I would advise the other teammates to draw on her experience. She has gone in as a favourite in the first Olympics, an Olympic champion and an overwhelming favourite in the second one.
“And then a recently returned rower form having had twins for her third and she’s done amazingly well to come fourth.
“But now if I was a teammate, I would be saying you may have won loads of stuff, but this is the most important one.”
The women’s four finished in the same position as Glover did at Tokyo 2020, fourth, as Britain won only two medals, and none of them gold.
Since then, Glover spent time competing in beach sprint rowing before returning to the Olympic discipline. The boat has not yet lost in 2024, winning gold at this year’s European Championships having claimed world bronze last year.
Glover will race alongside Tokyo Olympian Rebecca Shorten and two debutants in the form of Esme Booth and Samantha Redgrave.
Shorten and the women’s four missed out on a medal in Tokyo by just sixth one-hundredths of a second with Glover finishing fourth in the women’s pair by just over two seconds.
Cracknell believes those near-misses will power the whole of the Great Britain team to glory in Paris.
He added: “I think the realisation of how much you put in, particularly in that five-year cycle for Tokyo and then the difference, in a small sport, between winning and a silver is massive.
“In terms of your life choices, opportunities that come around, having to wait another three/four years to carry on.
“The people who experienced that thought we are not going to waste it, we are going to absolutely get on it and go for gold whereas they may have stopped if they had won.
“That has been a whole group thing, no one won gold, so everyone was frustrated and disappointed in themselves and that motivation is what has made the big difference.
“Other countries have been shocked by it and it has taken a while to get them back on terms.
“I think we could and will top the medal table for both the men and the women and to do that you will need five gold medals.
“But then you are relying on every one of those boats performing properly! But I would say four or five would be my prediction and that would be an amazing result coming off none in Tokyo.”