Scott donates Olympic medallist fund to Bann Rowing Club

Olympic champion Hannah Scott has launched a new boat named after herself at the Bann Rowing Club in Coleraine.

The 26-year-old won gold in the women's quadruple sculls for Team GB in Paris and donated her £20,000 award from the Olympic Medallist Fund, which was set up following the Games last year, to her home club who used the money to buy two single scull boats and a safety boat.

"It was my dream to reach the Olympics and not only have I lived my dream, I fulfilled it thanks to the grassroots support of Bann Rowing Club, the amazing volunteers and coaches," Scott told BBC Sport NI.

"The amount of athletes that have come out of the club is extraordinary and it deserves this investment because of how much it has given to rowing but taken so little back.

"There is a brilliant cross community relationship within rowing. We have a very successful Rowing Ireland and GB Rowing teams which both benefit from Bann Rowing Club and this money will ensure more people can access the sport for those two teams to be represented by NI athletes."

Communities Minister Gordon Lyons (third from left) joined Hannah Scott on the River Bann

The club, which is situated under a Chinese restaurant near the town centre of Coleraine, has a history of producing international rowers.

In the past 25 years, four Olympians - Alan Campbell, Richard and Peter Chambers and Hannah Scott - have come from the club with all four winning world medals and going on to stand on the Olympic podium.

The Chambers brothers and Alan Campbell won medals at London 2012 before Scott's success in Paris last year.

The future looks bright with Scott committed to the next Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028 with another Bann member - Ellie-Kate Hutchinson - already a gold medallist at under-23 level.

The 21-year-old is currently in her final year at Syracuse University and likely to join Scott in the GB squad next year.