| Hosts: Tokyo, Japan Dates: 23 July-8 August |
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Rower Polly Swann has not had to look hard to find perspective as she approaches what may well be her final Olympic Games.
As a junior doctor who returned to the hospital after the coronavirus pandemic led to an NHS rallying cry for help, she has seen suffering at first hand at St John’s Hospital, Livingston.
“I remember being in ICU and seeing quite a young guy on a ventilator,” the 33-year-old says.
“I found that really hard. Even when you’re working in a hospital, it’s easy to think it’s ok for people unless they’re a bit older or they’ve got other health problems. But seeing this young guy on a ventilator just hit me.
“It just made me realise and really appreciate my health and what I’ve got – my ability to go out and do the sport I love – that’s special and it’s given me a real perspective. There are dark moments, but you have to be able to take yourself out of that.”
Training in the shed
Working on a surgical ward while training to row at the Olympics seems like a scarcely feasible task and, despite Swann’s modesty, she does not try to sugarcoat the experience.
Having decided to make a comeback in 2019 following a sabbatical after the Rio Games – where she earned a silver as part of the women’s eight – Swann had just moved home to Edinburgh for lockdown.
Before, after, or between shifts, she would train. Rowing machine in the hall, exercise bike in the shed, she was relentless. Before she went back to work, it was studying to which she had to adapt her schedule. How did her head not explode?
“With quite a lot of crying, a few tantrums and a lot of support,” she laughs. “Because medicine came first, I had to think outside of the box with training. I had a really great team at Edinburgh Uni, bending over backwards so we could deliver something in terms of performance in the summer of 2019.
“My mum, dad, and brother are still in Edinburgh so they definitely helped out with meals and stuff. I saw some pretty dark days – you don’t get an awful lot of sleep when you’re studying, and in the hospital, and then trying to train. It’s a bit of a whirlwind.”
‘I wanted to throw the towel in’
Swann is as positive, bright and upbeat as they come, but there is an inner steel and determination.
She says the Olympics will likely be her last event before focusing on being an anaesthetist, but she “daydreams” of a comeback for Paris in 2024, when she’ll be 36. She can’t conceive of letting go of rowing completely.
It’s one of the most physically draining sports around and the training is not what most people would describe as fun. Even Swann struggles to pinpoint exactly what keeps her going through the gruelling days.
“There was a lot of times where I wanted to throw the towel in,” she says. “I remember one of my physiologists, Pete Bonner, made me do this really intense pace the same day I had a medical school final.
“I was basically crying, having a tantrum and I think I literally threw a towel at him. He reminded me who I am and he was like, ‘you just have to do this one thing and then after that you can go and sleep’.
“It’s just day-by-day, not losing yourself, because it is tough, but it’s not the worst thing in the world. I’m very lucky to be able to have two passions – clearly there’s a lot of conflict between the two of them, but if I wake up every day and try to do my best then that’s all I can ask.”
Unfinished business
Now the hard work is mostly done and the Olympics await. Like most athletes, Swann regrets the occasion won’t be the “full shebang”, with crowds and the usual buzz in the host country.
However, it doesn’t dilute the meaning personally. Despite being in the box seat after European Championship success in April, she wept in the car park after training once she opened the letter confirming her selection.
The chance she took by coming back in 2019, and then when adding her job back in last year with all its physical and mental toils, had paid off.
Aptly, Swann is reunited with two-time gold medallist Helen Glover, 34, in the women’s pair and there is a sense of fate about their reunion.
The pair won World Championship gold together in 2013 and are both on the comeback trail. Glover returned last year and became the first mum to be selected for the British team, having trained at home while raising three children under the age of three.
The remarkable pair won the Europeans together on their return and are poised to go again.
“We had a conversation where we said that we couldn’t let it go, couldn’t stop thinking about rowing, which is really geeky isn’t it?” Swann laughs.
“I was a complete geek – I would look up all the times of people in the regattas and stuff, and see who’s been selected for what team, and I just really wanted to know all the information. Apparently she was the same, so obviously we had unfinished business.
“I just came about and I just think it’s been nice to spend time together again. We could have been in different boats, but it’s quite poetic that we get to do this again for the last time. Although never say never!”
Asked, despite all the other distractions in their lives, if they are still targeting gold, Swann grins and pauses.
“Yeah you’ve got to go for it, haven’t you? The field for the women’s pair is very spicy – we’ve got the world’s best, record holders, world champions in our event, as well as people who have been beating these people that have got world records.
“I’s going to be a stacked event, but if you don’t put yourself in a position to win then you’re never going to know – so we’ll give it a whirl.”