Emma Wilson: GB windsurfer on following in two-time Olympian mother's footsteps
- Published
Emma Wilson won three medals at the recent RS:X European Championships
"My mum is just my mum," Emma Wilson says. But when your mum is a former world champion and two-time Olympian, high expectations are likely to follow your every move.
Will you ever be as good? Can you repeat her achievements? Could you even be better?
That's far from the case in this family, though. British windsurfer Wilson is forging her own career in the sport; her mother's achievements are merely a side note in her story.
Penny Wilson - nee Way - is one of a handful of British windsurfers who have paved the way for her daughter's generation to come through, adding Nick Dempsey and Bryony Shaw to that legacy-creating list.
At only 20 years old, Emma is proving a chip off the old block - a multiple youth world champion with a handful of European medals at senior level. But she's done it in her own right.
"I don't feel any pressure," she tells BBC Sport.
"But it's really cool to have her knowledge and advice. It's nice to have someone who understands it."
'It's a lot more emotional' - sport as a parent
Windsurfing runs through the veins of this family. Emma's brother Dan - 18 months her senior - is also on the British team.
But they were never pushed into it. Penny had them out on the water when they were toddlers, but they were encouraged to try other sports, with Emma having played hockey to regional level.
"I was keen for them both to do a lot of sports. I still loved the water and wanted to be back on it, but I wasn't very good at putting them in childcare," Penny, 57, says.
"So I used to put them in a rubber dinghy and tow them behind me, and they just loved it.
"I didn't particularly want them to compete - that came from them as they are both extremely competitive."
Penny first took her daughter Emma on the water when she was just three years old
In the 20-plus years since Penny stopped competing, she admits there have been great changes in the sport - there is a better youth pathway, for example, it is more "athletic and competitive" and there are a lot of "fit, strong kids coming through".
Yet involvement in the sport as a parent, rather than a competitor, is proving a lot tougher.
"At the time, there are so many ups and downs that you don't think about it," adds Penny, who competed for Great Britain at the Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996 Olympic Games.
"It's a lot more emotional. Things to do with your kids are always emotional, but when it's your thing and you're doing it selfishly, I think it's almost easier than watching them go through the ups and downs.
"I think it helps that I have experienced those ups and downs as well, it gives me a good perspective."
'One big family' - helping out
Few sporting parents could admit to knowing exactly what their offspring is experiencing during competition.
Penny, however, has that advantage - though Emma has her own coach and her mum rarely gets involved.
"She travels with me to competitions just to help me out," Emma says. "When I'm tired after a tough day of racing, she understands it."
Penny adds: "She is so focused and so driven, so I just paddle along behind trying to help her when I can.
"I help her quite a lot with the mental side, because I understand her, so I can tell very quickly if I think she is overtraining or if I think she is beginning to not enjoy it. I just make sure she is having fun and try to make things a little easier for her."
Penny says Emma sometimes struggled with the fact her mother was well-known in the sport.
"I think she went through a stage when she didn't particularly like being known as my daughter, but she is well beyond that now," says Penny.
"It works in her favour at international events because I still have a lot of international friends so when I can't be there, there is normally somebody who I competed with there as a coach or a parent and they are always there to help. It's like one big family."
Penny Wilson - then Way - finished fourth at the Barcelona 1992 Olympics (pictured) and fifth in Atlanta four years later
'I feel confident' - trying for Tokyo
Britain's windsurfers have won medals at each of the past four Olympic Games, with Dempsey winning silver in 2012 and 2016 plus bronze in 2004, while Shaw won bronze in 2008.
But with only one spot on the team available for next year's Olympics in Japan, the pressure is on for Emma to ensure she is the one flying the flag for Great Britain.
"I feel confident about Tokyo," she says.
"It's tough because only one person can go from each country, and Britain's in a pretty good place with me, Bryony and Saskia [Sills]."
For Penny, watching her daughter follow in her footsteps by reaching the Olympics would be a proud moment.
"I think she can do anything she wants to do. She has the drive, she is athletic and she is really positive about everything," Penny says.
"She would say she wouldn't be doing it if she didn't think she could get an Olympic gold medal, but she definitely won't put too much pressure on herself either.
"I would be so happy for her if she got to Tokyo. It's been her dream to win an Olympic medal since she saw Kelly Holmes doing it in 2004.
"She'll train as hard as anyone possibly can, even harder, and if it all comes together then brilliant. If it doesn't, she's not lost anything."