HEATHER Stanning has insisted she will not be rushed into deciding whether to pursue a golden hat-trick at Tokyo 2020 or to hang up her oars for good.
The 31-year-old rower was among a battalion of Scottish sporting idols on display in Edinburgh yesterday as the summer’s Olympic and Paralympic stars were given a homecoming parade.
But Stanning, who successfully defended her pairs title in Rio with partner Helen Glover, has revealed her intention to spend the next 12 months focusing on her other job as an Army Major before figuring out whether she’s still got the will to carry on.
“It does take over your life,” she said. “I look back at my peers from university, even the ones I joined the Army with, and see what they have done over the last four years, how much their lives have changed. And I think ‘gosh, I am still doing the same things I was doing when I was 25.’ And I am not 25 anymore.
“The plan for me is to go and do staff college next September. The army have said they will support me to Tokyo if I want to go there but at the same time if I decide that is the end of my rowing career then I have got a military career to look to as well and hopefully I can get that going as well. It gives me options. It doesn’t necessarily make my decision easier. But it gives me options and I am very grateful for that.”
There will be no deadline imposed to make the call, British Rowing chief Sir David Tanner has assured both Stanning and Glover, who will also take her own hiatus following her recent wedding to television presenter Steve Backshall.
And the Scot, who was recently made a Freewoman of Moray for her Olympic efforts, has been told by her Army bosses that she will get their backing to go for a third gold in 2020 if the drive and ambition remains.
“There’s been no begging involved,” Stanning said. “They have been so supportive of me and I think it is important that I give back where I can, if it is encouraging young recruits and soldiers to get involved with sport.
“We do have the army elite sports programme so there is the opportunity for young recruits to do what I have done. There is a huge talent pool in the army, and I am really keen to encourage it.”
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