Helen Glover is having an incredibly busy year. Not only is she a mum of three, but she's also working hard to try and claim the top spot when she competes in the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris.
The two-time Olympic rowing champion made her triumphant return to the Olympics in 2021, becoming the first mum to row for Team GB, and she and her rowing partner, Polly Swann, finished in fourth place. Although a gold medal is always the aim, she exclusively revealed to HELLO! that she would still find "success" in whatever place she finished in thanks to her young family, consisting of Logan, five, and twins Willow and Kit, three.
"If I got on the podium in Paris, I could look at my kids in the eyes and bring them home a medal to see," she explained. "That would be an amazing achievement, to keep this wider perspective of looking at it. If I don't get on the podium, there's still success in the journey and what they will have learned through that."
Even when she's busy training, Helen revealed she has "non-negotiables" when it comes to her family, including making sure she is always around for the "school pickup" and having some "flexibility in the afternoon". What this means practically, is that the star trains with her team in the mornings before doing solo weight training or rowing machine practices in the afternoon.
Helen on her husband Steve Backshall's unwavering support
© InstagramOne person who has been a major source of support for Helen has been her husband of six years, Steve Backshall, and the father of her children. "There's no way I could have done it or even thought of it without him. It was him who actually suggested this time round," she revealed, before joking: "A lot of it is just juggling and we'd have to be really organised to do this. Most of it is just winging it, one of us running out of the house handing the kids to the other one and just muddling through the day. There's definitely not a huge, wider plan other than winging it."
Speaking about training while having her children at home, the star said: "It's been a real balance, some days seem to go really smoothly and other days you think 'How I do another year of this?' I try to take it in my stride as much as possible. There are things that I can't do much about like sleepless nights and early wake-ups, the things that I couldn't dream of doing when I was training before, but you get through it. Something that has changed in me since becoming a mum is that I can get through these days, and I come out stronger at the end of them."
How motherhood has inspired Helen amid her Olympic comeback
© InstagramShe also sweetly revealed her favourite thing about being a mum, explaining: "I love the challenge of it. There's nothing more important and more stressful and more guilt-inducing, and more heartbreaking, and the highs and the lows are just huge. I just look at them and I want to do everything I can to make them the happiest, kindest, healthiest versions of themselves. Motherhood is having that sense of having a huge responsibility, but also feeling like I have this network and a team of parents I wasn't really aware of until I announced the Olympic comeback.
"I have never really been part of a parenting network or had many mum friends or anything. As soon as I announced the comeback, there was this influx of parents, people who I had never met before that were entirely behind me. There's a whole different demographic of people I've never had contact with who are now this mini cheerleading group behind me because we are all united by knowing that the nights are long and then exhausting... and that tantrums are constant!"
Although Helen is huge in the sporting world, she sweetly revealed that her only hopes for her children when it comes to their future is for them to do whatever makes them happy. "Often people expect me to want them to be going to the Olympics, but honestly the older they get the more I truly believe I just want them to find what makes them happy. It might be sport, it might be art, it could be anything, but if they find a thing, just a thing that they love, and a thing that makes them happy, then I'll be happy."
Helen's new campaign with Team GB
© InstagramHelen spoke to HELLO! about fronting a new campaign for Team GB encouraging children to become mini-mascots for the squad. Parents can register their children by following this link, and there's a chance to win the opportunity to meet their favourite Olympians and wave them off when the competition begins.
Speaking about what her own children might do in that situation, the star shared: "They all have very different personalities, I feel Logan would be covered in mud. Willow would probably try to do some sort of dance routine and Kit, who's very into whacking a tennis ball at the moment, would be trying to show off his ball skills.
"What's so great about the campaign is that kids don't have to be super sporty, you don't even have to know that much about the Olympic Games. It's really important to represent everybody. You don't have to be the next Olympian to do this, it's about being part of something. It's about being part of all the Olympic values and what they represent."
Could we be seeing Helen Glover on Strictly?
Back in 2014, Helen's husband Steve thrilled audiences when he took part in Strictly Come Dancing, reaching week nine of the competition, and Helen hinted that she might eye up a place on the dancefloor in the future.
"Even thinking about it now makes me feel sick," she joked. "The most intimidating thing I could think of is being on a stage the size of the Olympic Games, but I have no worries, but when I think about being on a dancefloor, it's so scary. It'd be a great opportunity, so many options come up through this you just think: 'How on earth have I ended up here?' I think Strictly would definitely be one of those, but never say never."
