As Helen Glover and Heather Stanning crossed the line to win gold at London 2012, an inspired young rower grabbed her dairy and scribbled aa short entry.
“My name is Lola Anderson and I think it would be my biggest dream in life to go to the Olympics in rowing and if possible win a gold for GB.”
Embarrassed, she tore the page out, threw it in the bin and forgot about it.
Seven years later, her dad Don reached into his safety deposit box and handed the note back to her, having found it while emptying her bin.
He had stored it away and kept it the whole time. During his terminal illness, he wanted her to have it back.
Don Anderson died of cancer two months later. The note is now her most treasured possession and gave her the motivation to follow her dream and win gold in incredible photo finish for Team GB.
“I don’t hold on to it with sadness, I hold on to it with pride,” the 26-year-old, who rows for Leander Club in Henley-on-Thames, told BBC Sport London.
“All parents love their children beyond the world, and he obviously had that belief in me from when I couldn’t see it myself.
“It’s my most important possession that I own now. It’s just a piece of paper but it’s the value that he put in it that makes it so special to me.
“He didn’t have to take it out of the bin. At first maybe he thought it was a bit funny and it would be sweet to hold on to and give back to me one day, regardless of what happened.”
Growing up in Richmond, Greater London, it was Anderson’s dad who first introduced her to the sport, having learned to row himself when studying at university in Durban, South Africa.
Her eldest sister, Amber, then took up the sport and it was often the topic of conversation at the dinner table, which Anderson found “boring” and “not for her”.
That all changed when her twin brother, Monty, started rowing. Her competitive streak kicked in and she knew she had to beat him.
“I very much got into it through my family’s love and connection with the sport. I was not very good at it to begin with,” she said.
“But my dad would encourage me to put myself back in the boat again after each capsize and keep going and enjoy sport for sport, not the results.
“I honestly couldn’t stay dry for the majority of my sessions – I was more swimming than I was rowing.”
Anderson began rowing at the Surbiton High School Boat Club as one of seven girls and credits much of her success to her early coaching there.
Like so many young athletes, she was captivated by the success of Team GB’s stars at the London Olympics in 2012. Watching rowers Glover and Stanning’s gold medal win in the women’s pair made her late for training that day but the seeds had been sown for a career in which she won gold at last year’s world championships in Belgrade, Serbia and became European champion in April.
The Surbiton club now takes on more than 150 female rowers a year, Anderson says, as the sport continues to grow in the UK.
And the success of Anderson and her team-mates Hannah Scott, Lauren Henry and Georgie Brayshaw in adding an Olympic gold medal to their collection will inspire the next generation, just as Glover and Stanning’s victory inspired her.
Team GB’s first ever gold in the women’s quadruple sculls could not have contained more drama.
Having trailed leaders the Netherlands for the entire race, the team completed the most extraordinary chase to pip their rivals right on the line – closing a gap of half a boat-length in the last 200m.
After a tense wait on a photo finish, Great Britain were confirmed the winners – they had won by just 0.15 seconds.
The rowers smacked the water in celebration.
Anderson burst into tears.
“I know he’d be so, so proud. I’ve been thinking a lot about him right now and it’s really, really lovely,” she said immediately afterwards.
Having had the night to process the victory, and donning her gold medal around her neck, she said she had been touched by the reactions she had seen from many fans.
“As soon as we crossed the finish line and I realised what we’d done, my body took over before my mind had appreciated it and I just started crying,” she said.
“I wasn’t even sure of how much of it was happy tears and confusion tears because it was just overwhelming…. definitely an emotional rollercoaster, and seeing how many people saw my tears and related to them in some way was so touching.”
Don Anderson was diagnosed with cancer in 2014 and he was in hospital in October 2019 when he surprised his daughter with the note. He died in December that year.
“I threw (the note) away because I was so embarrassed and thought there was no way I could achieve this and I’m here and this honestly feels like I could wake up [at] any minute,” she added.
“The power of watching people achieve really does lead the way.
“When I was a young girl, I struggled to see the way in sport, and to hold on to just being a girl.
“I’m so, so proud to see how far we’ve come, I think in the last 10 years, there’s so much space for women in sport now and I hope that just expands and keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger
She has now completed her diary dream.
Culled from the BBC
