Former UEA student selected for Team GB Olympic rowing squad

Redgrave will compete at her first Olympics later this summer

Former University of East Anglia (UEA) student Samantha Redgrave will race for Team GB at this summer's Olympic Games in Paris.

The 29-year-old, who began her journey at Norwich Rowing Club, will race in the Women’s four (W4-).

She will be joined in the boat by double Olympic champion Helen Glover, returning Olympian Rebecca Shorten and Esme Booth.

The games officially start on 26 July and run until 11 August 2024.

The Women's four have had a near-perfect start to 2024

Redgrave told BBC Radio Norfolk: "It's amazing, if you'd have told me 10 years ago that this would be a possibility I'd have laughed at you."

"To have this moment, the hype is happening, I can officially own it, it's just so cool," she said.

She and her colleagues have won two World Cup events in Italy and Switzerland so far in 2024, as well as the European Championships in Hungary.

"You do a whole winter of long training and selection and you start to get an idea after that block in February time, if you're going to make it.

"We've been really successful so far this season so we were all pretty confident we'd make the Olympic boat - but you never know until it's confirmed," said Redgrave.

The team have already won two World Cup events in 2024

Her journey to the Olympics started when she joined Norwich Rowing Club while a student at UEA.

She quickly demonstrated she had talent for the sport and was encouraged to try out at a higher level.

In 2019 she progressed to the GB development squad before deciding to take the sport more seriously.

"I spoke to my partner and said, 'I think we need to move to Henley and get stuck in at Leander Club, which is one of the top clubs, if I really want to make it into the team'.

"From that moment I really put the hard work in and I've worked my way into the position I'm in now.

"I will never forget my roots - it was so hard to leave Norwich. The people at Norwich Rowing Club are fantastic and I try and go back there whenever I can.

"I'll never forget Norwich and the support they still give me."