Paris Olympics 2024: Rower Hannah Scott from Coleraine on the 'relief and happiness' of winning a gold medal for Team GB

“It’s been more than what I could have imagined. I’m still in Paris, we’re still having some crazy moments and it’s been amazing.”

Displaying power, technique, pacing and tactics, the women rowed into the history books as it was the first time Team GB won that event and turned the page on Tokyo where no crews won gold and no women won medals.

Recalling the nail-biting wait for the result of the dramatic photo finish, Hannah said: “There was a moment of anticipation waiting to see if we actually had won the gold or not, but once we did know, there was relief and happiness.”

Hannah said that after the result was announced the team didn’t have much time to absorb their momentous win.

"We were put straight onto the podium and then we got to meet Princess Anne, who gave us our medals. That was pretty special as they only send out British royals if they think there’s a chance a British athlete can win. She (Princess Anne) said to me, ‘That was a bit close for my liking’.”

Does the former Coleraine Grammar student know where she’ll keep her precious Olympic medal? “They’ve given us a really nice Louis Vuitton medal box for the Olympics. I’ll keep it in that, but I’m not sure where yet.”

Directly after being presented with their gold medals, the team did some media interviews, then Hannah jumped in a police car and whizzed through Paris to celebrate with friends and family.

“They put the sirens on and we went through all the red lights on the way to this bar where everyone was. We celebrated a bit and it’s been crazy ever since. I haven’t stopped since then.”

Hannah had a group of about 50 friends and family with her in Paris, including her mum and dad, Sharon and Mal, brother Ben and lots of close family and friends.

“I also had friends over from Princeton (University where she studied). It was my world in Paris and it was just amazing to have all these people that I really adore all together.”

Hannah began her journey to Olympic stardom aged 12 at the historic Bann Rowing Club in Coleraine.

"I’d been sporty growing up. I was into swimming, but I’d never really found my sport, as such. I knew that Coleraine had a good rowing club. It was something that no one else was doing at the time, but I wanted to do it. I don’t know what the notion was, I just wanted to do rowing.

“Then London 2012 happened and I watched Aaron Campbell and Richard and Peter (Chambers) all come back with Olympic medals to this tiny little club in Coleraine. I’d been there maybe six months and that made realise that I really, really want to do what they’ve just done. That’s what inspired me to take rowing more seriously. All these opportunities came with it (rowing), although I didn’t know that at the time. When I was young I just wanted to see how far I would get.”

The team’s success is the product of a rigorous and gruelling schedule undertaken at the National Training Centre at Henley-on-Thames, where Hannah lives.

“The training regime is ridiculous. I can’t even think about it now,” she laughs.

“We train three times a day, from 7am to 5pm. We’ll do a water session for two hours, then we’ll go on the rowing machine for an hour and a half and then we’ll do a two-hour weights session. We do that six days a week. We don’t get a lot of time off in rowing. Unlike other sports there’s no on and off season. It’s very intense the whole time, so I’ve missed out on a lot because I’ve always had to be training. So it’s nice to have a break now.”

As well as the punishing physical regime, Hannah said rowing is a mental workout that requires the teammates to be in total sync.

"Rowing teaches you a lot about teamwork. Compared to other sports, you don’t have attack and shield, and everyone doing different jobs, with rowing everyone is doing the exact same thing in synchronisation. You do all have to be equal. You have to lose your own ego to share everyone else’s.”

And in terms of the Olympics itself, she said a lot of “mental strategy” is involved.

“The Olympics is a big mental game. There’s a lot of sitting around and waiting. By that point the training and all the hard stuff has been done, so a lot of it is making sure you are in the right mindset to go out and race. We did a lot of work on that in the team, trying to make sure we were focused on the job at hand and weren’t too distracted with the whole Olympics.”

The four women are friends and looking forward to Georgina Brayshaw’s wedding next year, where they’ll be bridesmaids.

“Had we not been rowing, I don’t think we would have met each other. We’re all very different, but everyone just really gets along and I think that just teaches you that we’re trying to get the best from each other, not just ourselves, and we really have to do that for each other to make sure that we go fast. My job is to make sure that everyone is on their game, so I have to help them do that as well as get myself there. We all really respect each other.”

The team didn’t stay at the Olympic Village, but rather at a hotel closer to the rowing course venue. However with their work now done they visit the village every day.

“It’s a very cool area, but I’m glad I wasn’t there for competing because it could be quite a lot,” said Hannah.

She has also been keeping up with all the other competitors from Northern Ireland, particularly her friend and fellow rower Rebecca Shorten from Belfast, who claimed Olympic silver in the women's four rowing.

“I am really friendly with Rebecca and watched her race. It was so hard because she had a very similar race but came home with a silver medal.”

One of the biggest milestones in Hannah’s rowing career was attending the Ivy League Princeton University in America, where she was able to take part in the university’s rowing programme.

"I didn’t even know what Princeton was until I watched Gosford Girls when I was 17,” she admits. “Then I got to go out and visit Harvard, Yale, Princeton and pick which university I wanted to go to. That was really special."

She majored in Sociology with a certificate in Entrepreneurship, but sadly had to return home in her final year due to Covid. However, during her time at the prestigious university she became a two-time Ivy League Champion in the Varsity Eight and led the Princeton Women’s Crew as captain.

After the Olympics closing ceremony tomorrow, August 11, Hannah will fly to England, then there’ll be a visit home to Northern Ireland, where the former Coleraine Grammar student, will undoubtedly receive a hero’s welcome. Then she is looking forward to a rest and a holiday with her boyfriend, and fellow Olympian rower, Ollie Wynne-Griffith, who claimed silver for Great Britain in the men’s pair.

“The thing now is just a bit of enjoyment. I have a holiday booked to California with my boyfriend. I’m going to go and watch Taylor Swift. I’ve loads of little things planned and then I’m going to have a long break and take it from there. This whole experience has been a long time coming, so I’ve just got to enjoy it and then evaluate things after and go from there.”