- British rower Lola Anderson was in tears after winning dramatic gold
- Dad had kept childhood note about her ambition to win gold at the Olympics
- He only gave her back the note after being diagnosed with terminal cancer
British rower Lola Anderson fulfilled a childhood dream by winning gold at the Olympic Games, then revealed a poignant story about how her late father had reminded her of that goal.
Inspirational note
Speaking after the dramatic win in the women’s quadruple sculls event, Anderson, who was in tears, revealed that when she was a girl, having been inspired by watching Helen Glover and Heather Stanning claiming gold in the women’s pair at the 2012 Olympics in London, she had written a note about her ambition to win a gold medal in rowing for Great Britain at the Olympics one day.
She had later thrown the note away but, unbeknownst to her, her dad had found it and kept it. It was only after he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer that he gave the note back to her to remind her of her dream.
Now, Anderson has fulfilled that childhood ambition. Speaking to the BBC, Anderson said: “I know that he would be so proud of me. I am thinking about him a lot right now.
“It’s quite overwhelming to be experiencing this but I am so grateful.”
Dramatic story
Anderson, along with Lauren Henry, Georgina Brayshaw and Hannah Scott took a dramatic gold medal in the quadruple sculls, pipping the Netherlands boat by 0.15 seconds having overhauled them in the final strokes of the event.
Anderson’s is not the only inspiring story from that boat. Scott had suffered a serious horse-riding accident at the age of 15, where doctors told her she had ‘life-changing’ injuries but after extensive rehabilitation and physiotherapy she made a full recovery.
