Olympic rower becomes firefighter 'to fulfil dream'

Mr Dawson (front row, second from left) won gold in the Men's Eight at the Paris 2024 Olympics

Olympic rower Jacob Dawson has said he is taking a step back from the sport to fulfil his "childhood dream" of becoming a firefighter.

The 31-year-old, from Henley, Oxfordshire, won gold at Paris 2024 and although he hopes to remain involved in rowing, he is set to become an on-call firefighter.

"It has been a childhood dream of mine to be a firefighter," he said, adding his grandfather had also been in the fire service.

He said suffering a blot clot on the lung in 2022, as a result of Covid-19, had given him "perspective" and it was now "someone else's turn" to compete at the top.

Jacob Dawson (second from left) has taken a step back from rowing since Paris 2024

"Before the games I'd inquired about becoming an on-call firefighter and it transpired that I wasn't going to be able to meet certain dates for pre-testing and stuff," he said.

"I genuinely thought, going into the games, that I wanted to carry on and keep rowing."

He put his firefighter application on hold and went back to the Leander Club in Henley, but once there he realised he no longer had "the fight" that some of the younger rowers had, he said.

'Never too late'

Mr Dawson, who also won bronze in the Men's Eight at the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics and is also a tree surgeon, said the training to be a firefighter was "different" to rowing and "probably not as demanding" as a lot of people might think.

He encouraged anyone who was thinking about becoming an on-call firefighter to give it a go.

"I'm fortunate enough that my lifelong dream is a way that I can contribute to the community," he said.

"It's never too late."