by Succeeding as an elite sportsperson requires levels of dedication that most mortals cannot even imagine.
For Glasgow rower Rowan McKellar, that meant not starting her wedding day with a hair and make-up session and meeting the photographer, but instead with an intense training session on the water.
That may seem excessive, but in a sport where the smallest of margins can be the difference between Olympic glory and missing the podium altogether, every session counts.
McKellar, 29, who married Matt Cummings in January, is aiming to compete at her second Olympics in Paris this summer, meaning her honeymoon in the Alps will have to wait a little longer .
She said: “We’re trying to work out when we might get it. We decided to just do it. We had a very small ceremony with my family and my husband’s family. It was a really nice day, I’m very glad we went for it. The small wedding was really nice and it was exactly what we imagined.
“The honeymoon will be after the Olympics. We are going to go and do a walk in the Alps next September. We had Sunday off, which was nice. I also didn’t want to take time off.
“I rowed in the morning and then went to get married in the evening. We surprised both families on the day. It was very low-key and very fun. The training session wasn’t too hard, but one where I had to stick to the schedule, I had somewhere I needed to be!”
Since that wedding in January, McKellar has been training hard with the first World Cup event of the season just a month away.
That regatta in Varese will tell the story of Great Britain’s selection for the Olympics, and the composition of the boats is likely to be similar, if not unlike those on the starting line in Paris.
With big event experience in the pair, four and eight, McKellar is a credible choice in all three boats, but that doesn’t lessen the tension surrounding that first selection decision.
“Things are always moving at the moment,” said McKellar, who is one of more than 1,000 elite athletes on a UK Sport-funded Elite Programme, which allows her to train full-time, access the best coaches and best in the world and benefit from pioneering. medical support.
We all have to wait and see. It is exciting because we managed to qualify the pair, the four and the eight. So it would be great to be able to race in anything and I think there’s a very good chance you’ll get some medals in more than one boat.
“There are little nuances between the boats that you have to dial up or down depending on which one you’re in. The main difference is the dynamics of the boat rather than the physical rowing itself. A pair, there are only two of you, you live in each other’s pockets. You basically spend all your time together. In the four, it is a little easier, there are more people, to dilute the training you have every day.
“Then in the eight, it’s a big group and you have Henry (Fieldman) the cox, who has a very different dynamic. There is someone in the boat who has more authority and is there to make you all better. It’s a really cool thing.
“The pair’s racing is definitely the scariest, most people would say that. But both the eight and the four have fun.”
McKellar has spent the most time of the four, including in Tokyo four years ago, where the team had to settle for fourth place, as GB rowers struggled around the world.
That has changed in the three years since, with a world title in the four in 2022 followed by bronze last year, as well as a gold medal and two silvers at European level.
It is a sign of the recovery in success that Britain has won eight gold medals in Olympic events in the last two Worlds, without winning any in the three editions between Rio and Tokyo.
That means McKellar’s second Olympic experience should be very different to his first, although the final selection won’t be confirmed until early June.
She acknowledged how much the team dynamic has changed, saying: “Tokyo was great but it didn’t really ease the Covid situation, but it was always in the back of your mind. It was a crazy time thinking back. Everything you’ve been training for could be over in one morning spit test. It was crazy how quickly everything could change and it did for some people. I feel for them because that would be a terrible way to end your Olympics if that happened.
“It’s funny because if we had got a medal, it would have been amazing, but for the whole Olympic cycle, I don’t think we won a medal at the World Championships. A medal would have been incredible but we finished where we were finishing in the World Championship events.
“I’m glad we came fourth and not fifth, I’m happy we made the final so there were a lot of positives. We continued very well throughout the regatta. It put me in a better place for these Games having done one but it’s still a bit disappointing.
“In the grand scheme of things, I think we did as well as we could have done. We did what we had to offer. I hope in Paris, if we can do that, we will have more to offer. If we can do that, hopefully we can get on the podium.”
If McKellar makes it to the podium, one person who will lead the celebration back home is his grandmother Betty, a Loch Winnoch legend, who collects newspaper clippings of every interview or report on her granddaughter.
Three years ago, that meant new television, and this year McKellar will focus on making sure she succeeds in moving to terrestrial television.
McKellar explained: “I always ask Shelley (British Rowing’s press officer) for any interview I do because I always have to make sure Grandma gets it. I want her to pick up the right newspaper.
“My grandmother is very supportive and things like this are really nice. It’s nice to read something in the newspaper about me. For the last Olympics, she managed to get a new TV set for the Games. It was a big thing and I’m very lucky with the support I have.
“I don’t think she will come to Paris. Some of the races were not on BBC last time so this year, I have to make sure she can get it on TV. She won’t do it but she will watch. The family support makes a huge difference, and it’s great to be there, whoever can come.”
The Covid-19 pandemic meant that even McKellar’s nearest and dearest couldn’t watch her Olympic debut in person in Tokyo.
But that will certainly not be the case in Paris, where most of the children will be moving on.
She added: “Hopefully it will be a different experience for fans and I’m really excited that my family will be able to be there. I’m excited that it’s so close.
“It was really cool that Tokyo was a big trip and he went somewhere new. It would be even cooler if the Covid case didn’t happen. But it’s really fun that this one is close, more aunties and uncles can come and I think it’s going to be exciting.
“My parents are dead. They exist for every single race. My mother missed one race, and Hattie Taylor and I got the first medal in the pair. She now insists she won’t lose another one.
“My parents are real rowing enthusiasts. It’s great to know they’ll be there and most of the time they know when my races are ahead. I ask them for the dates of the World Cup and they are over the moon. It’s great that they come out.”
After being present to see McKellar tie the knot at the start of the year, now her parents have the chance to watch their daughter potentially claim her first Olympic medal this summer. It looks like 2024 could be very special in more ways than one.
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