A year ago to this very day, the conceit that Polly Swann and Helen Glover would be aligned together in an Olympic rowing final would not have approximated the stuff of wild dreams. A fantasy, to be suggested in jest and then rebuffed with a giggle, for Glover above all.

Her twins, Kit and Willow, were a mere six months old and their mother as retired from the world of rowing as any double gold medallist can ever be. Swann, with silver in her pocket from Rio 2016, had taken exploratory steps into a comeback following the completion of her medical degree close to home in Edinburgh but not much beyond.

She sweated, not in a boat or on an ergo machine, but beneath the layers of PPE complementing her junior doctor’s uniform once she’d offered herself up for service as Covid diverted colleagues elsewhere. Quite the contrast, unfathomably so, as the British pair sought to cap their inspiring comeback with a trip to the podium in Thursday’s women’s pairs final in Tokyo but were marooned, if phlegmatically so, in fourth.

The concluding chapter of this Disney fairy tale that so many had pre-scripted sent to the shredder. But the chronicles of the incredible journey before, one that took the world champions of 2013 from couch to 2k to a European title in the spring, and now to this? A must-read on its own, Swann insisted.

“I don't think there's many people in the Olympic athlete set-up that can say these things and be in a final,” she said. “We certainly fought our all to try to get onto that podium. I can't fault our determination for that, and more so the way that we fought in training.

“We got in the boat together and every day since then has been pushing each other to the limit. I think we've worked exceptionally well at doing that. We've worked very well as a team. For me, that's what drives me, that's what my motivation is. I'm very proud that Helen and my team have done something special together.” 

Illustrious, even if distinct to Glover’s prior coxless pairs triumphs with another Scot, Heather Stanning, at London 2012 and once again in Rio. Swann too has past pedigree with her eights silver of 2016. However if there was a sense that they needed to speedily assert themselves to retain thoughts of gold, it had dissolved when they lay third at half-way and were seemingly striving with all they had just to remain in the medals.

Early pacesetters Canada regressed. New Zealanders Grace Prendergast and Kerri Gowler began their charge towards gold in six minutes 50.19 secs. The Russians slipped by for silver but in the end, there was no last twist and 2.86 secs distinguished the Brits from the Canadians in bronze.

“The reward is knowing that we crossed the line giving it our all,” said the deposed champion, as her colleague let tears flow. For her three children, too young to remember this now, this will encourage them, she trusts, to “take risks and to take chances with no fear of failure.”

“The journey the last year for both of us is one we're going to look back on,” she added. “I think when you're caught up in the moment of it and the day to day grind, only having one year, it feels so immediate. What was that year about?

“Everyone will remember it as the year of the pandemic for their own reasons, and me looking back for my own reasons. To think that was the thing that took me to another Olympics, that's bonkers.” 

Swann has minimal time to reflect as she prepares to fly home as soon as Friday. By next week, the 33-year-old will be retired once more and trading lycra for scrubs and a rotation in anaesthetics at Borders General Hospital in Melrose.

“I’m looking forward to having a new team behind me and to see what I can do,” she said. Will the pair be back for Paris in 2024? “I'm taking bets on her doing the single,” said the Scot of her cohort. Not a hope, Helen vowed.

No Redgrave-esque permissions were granted to shoot Swann if she ever leaps aboard beyond now. Door left ajar, just enough. “I don't know. I've always been tempted to do a Helen Glover. To have a bit of a comeback. Maybe one year work, one year to have a baby, one year to come back. We'll see...”

Elsewhere, Emily Craig and Imogen Grant later became the fourth British boat to come fourth at these Games, denied bronze in the lightweight double sculls by one hundredth of a second in a photo finish with the Dutch as Italy edged France for victory.