Coronavirus: Olympic rower joins fight as junior doctor

Polly Swann will be working at the hospital for three months

An Olympic rower has joined the fight against coronavirus as a junior doctor, while training for the postponed games.

Olympic silver medallist Polly Swann started working as a junior doctor in a Scottish hospital last week, having already completed her medical degree.

The 31-year-old won a silver medal as part of the women's eight at the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro.

After taking a break to finish her studies at Edinburgh University, she rejoined the British team in 2019.

She went on to win a bronze medal at the World Cup III in the paired race with team-mate Holly Hill.

Dr Swann will work at the hospital for the next three months.

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She said: "A lot of junior doctors have been moved to the most critical parts of the NHS, so interim foundation year doctors are backfilling their roles.

"I'm definitely not a frontline ICU worker, but I'm glad I can still help to ease the burden in some way."

She added that her coach, Tom Pattichis, had devised a training programme to prepare her for the Olympic games outside her working hours.

"I had the experience of training alongside working when I was in my last few months of medical school last year so it's not entirely new to me," she said.

"I'm staying with my parents for lockdown so I have a rowing machine in their hallway, some dumbbells in the living room and a wattbike in my dad's toolshed, which I'm sure is very annoying for them."

Dr Swann (left) won a bronze medal at the World Cup III in the paired race with teammate Holly Hill.

Dr Swann said the postponed games would be "the most phenomenal Olympics ever" after the world emerged from lockdown.

She said: "The Olympics is a celebration of human achievement and it brings people together - it's about more than just medals and more than even sport.

"If everyone can come together for this celebration at the end of all this it'll be the most phenomenal Olympics ever."

Director of performance Brendan Purcell said: "We're pleased to be able to support Polly in balancing her training for the postponed Tokyo 2020 Games alongside her work as a junior doctor.

"Since the start of the pandemic we have discussed with athletes and staff how we can combine our pursuit of performance excellence alongside our social responsibility in this current crisis.

"As well as the fact that Polly will be contributing to the nationwide NHS effort, our approach aims to centre on developing the person and athlete to enable them to thrive now and in their careers beyond sport."

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