ANNA Watkins took up rowing when she was 18 simply because she wanted to get fit and a friend told her she had the physique for the sport.
Eleven years on and she and her partner, Scot Katherine Grainger, have picked up gold in the double sculls as part of Team GB.
The 29-year-old, of Leek, Staffordshire, was attending Newham College, Cambridge, when she began rowing and her coaches at the university, Tim Granger and Michael Gifford, encouraged her to try to fulfil her potential in the sport.
They inspired her to try out for GB Rowing's World Class Start scheme and she was promptly accepted.
After graduating from Cambridge in 2005, she moved south to train full time with the GB women's squad where she went from strength to strength.
Watkins currently rows for the Leander Club at Henley on Thames, one of the oldest clubs in the world.
In 2008, she won bronze in Beijing before teaming up with Grainger in 2010. The pair have yet to be beaten in 22 races.
They won the World Championships in Germany in 2011 and achieved gold at all three world cups in 2012.
The pair also broke the Olympic record in the heats of the double sculls.
As well as being a talented rower, Watkins, who married in 2009, is also studying for a PhD in mathematics.
Speaking after her Olympic win, she said: "I just can't believe it, I just had to ask Katherine if it was a dream."
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