Helen Glover: Olympic champion rower could retire after Rio 2016

Olympic champion rower Helen Glover could retire after the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Glover, 28, who won pairs gold with Heather Stanning at London 2012, will turn 30 next summer.

"The tough thing in a sport like this is that it's so Olympic-based that you really make decisions in four-year cycles," Glover told BBC Cornwall.

"After Rio I can see myself retiring, I'd have had two Olympic Games and eight years at the top level."

Glover started rowing in 2008 after being spotted as part of UK Sport's Sporting Giants campaign to find people who could make the 2012 Olympic team.

She took up the sport full-time in 2010, winning silver in the coxless pairs at that summer's World Championships.

Glover, who has since gone on to win two world and two European titles, to add to the gold in London, said that when she finally decides to retire, it will be a difficult decision to make.

She said: "I don't know how I'll feel after racing, and if I feel I can give more to the sport and if I feel I want to keep on improving and keep on trying then that's what I'll do.

"I'm so privileged to do this and I wouldn't take walking away lightly and I wouldn't take it easily, because I'm really lucky to get this chance, so it'll be a tough thing to walk away from."

However, Glover added that she would like to try other sports.

"I did some junior international cross-country running and some decent level hockey," she said.

"I'm really excited for when I finish to be able to go and play all these sports because for various reasons, whether it's not having the energy or not wanting to get injured, I've had to let most other sports slip by.

"I don't know what level it'll be to, probably recreationally, but I'm sure I'll have a competitive streak no matter what. I'll be really excited to get back into some different sports."