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Life is a gamble and Olympic champion Lola Anderson hopes she has shown a generation of young girls why they should bet on themselves.
The names of Anderson, Georgie Brayshaw, Hannah Scott and Lauren Henry should be known up and down the country after they won one of the greatest rowing races ever seen.
After watching London 2012, a 13-year-old Anderson scribbled in her diary, ‘I think it would be my biggest dream in life to go to the Olympics in rowing and if possible win a gold for GB.’
A few weeks passed and embarrassed by her ambition, she ripped the page from the diary and threw it in the bin. Her father Don rescued it, and seven years later, just a fortnight before he died from cancer, gave it back.
Don was proven right in the most cinematic way imaginable as Great Britain roared back to win gold by the barest of margins.
“I threw that (note) away, because I didn’t believe, why would you?” said Anderson.
“Young girls out there struggle to see themselves as these strong, athletic individuals, but I think that’s changing now. We’ve got more and more women taking part in sport. This is one of the first Games where we’ve got more women than men competing, that’s just incredible.
“My Dad saw it before I did, he saw the potential that I had but my potential wouldn’t have been unlocked without the girls who crossed the line with me today. I’m very, very grateful for everyone that has got me here and he would be very proud if he was here.
“There’s nothing unfeminine about getting strong, getting athletic and enjoying being aggressive and racy. Young girls out there are now starting to explore the joys of sport, how freeing it is and how much confidence it can give you.
“I just want all of the girls out there to feel that in the same way we do today.”
This crew came to Vaires-sur-Marne as reigning world and European champions, having unleashed a sprint finish to beat the Netherlands by a whisker at the 2023 World Championships.
When it came to the race at Paris 2024, the Dutch led for 1,999 metres, but not that one that mattered.
As they roared across the orange buoys indicating the climax of the race, Henry yelled from the bow seat, “we need to go now!”
Scott guided them home with Brayshaw and Anderson giving the shell that power it needed as Team GB launched their bowball over the finish line by a third of a canvas: 0.15 seconds.
“I’ve heard reports that rowing is quite boring,” said Scott. “We just wanted to put on a show!
“For all of us, we’ve all had setbacks in each individual story, it just shows you have to persevere and learn from those experiences and keep thriving and use it as a positive.
“It’s all about staying strong in this game and that’s what we showed down to the last stroke.”
It was Great Britain’s first-ever gold in the women’s quad and first medal since a run of three silvers from Sydney 2000 to Beijing 2008.
This crew does indeed have a complex mix of personalities and motivations that has merged into something unstoppable, proving exactly what four strong women can achieve together.
Brayshaw was paralysed down one side after a horseriding accident while she was a teenager.
Scott is the sole survivor from a tricky Tokyo and Henry came into the squad after a shock Trials win in April 2023, moving down to train at Caversham and sweating on laundry and meal prep as recently as 18 months ago.
Anderson didn’t bring Don’s note with her to Paris - it is simply too precious, and lives in a tin in her bedroom at home.
“It’s the most valuable thing I have - maybe along with this now,” she said, gazing down at the Olympic gold medal around her neck.”
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