Katherine Grainger will have a job for life in rowing if she wants to stay involved, British Rowing performance director Sir David Tanner has revealed.
The 40-year-old insisted there will be no further comebacks into the boat after the silver medal she secured with Vicky Thornley in the double sculls last week that capped a rollercoaster ride from London 2012 to here that saw results slump and her selection questioned before she came agonisingly close to retaining her Olympic title.
Grainger admits she will take time to pick her next move with media work, academia or furthering her legal career among the available options. But Tanner will look to persuade the Scot to keep one foot in the boat rather than completely severing ties.
“It would be wonderful,” he said. “She did two years working for the BBC in rowing. She has to say she wants to retire properly first. She didn’t after London. I teased her afterwards when she said it was her last Olympic final. I think it’s unlikely she’ll be back. But she and I have had a trajectory since 1997 and get first year in the senior team so I’ll be talking to her.
“Coaching is a different one until you’ve seen somebody do it. Top athletes do become good coaches. And people who aren’t remotely top athletes, me perhaps, can do. But in terms of mentoring, there’s a massive skill if you can work with other people. You see how she’s played that so well with Vicky and I’d be delighted if she stayed in the fold. In the same way we use Steve Redgrave a lot. Without question, I’d want her doing that. We want her around.”
Rowing was the lone sport to miss its medal target in Rio despite topping the sport’s own table with three golds and two silvers. But Tanner, who has led the team since 1992, claims Grainger’s silver was among the finest rows he has seen from the five-time Olympic medallist.
“It was wonderful way for her to finish an Olympiad. I remember the dinner we had in June 2014, where I said: ‘c’mon, either you come back now or you don’t.’ She blames it on a rather nice bottle of wine I bought. But that’s the kind of person she is. When you put your head up and don’t let anyone beat you.”
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