Imogen Grant, the British rower who won Olympic gold in Paris, is on a mission to adapt her body to compete in open-weight rowing at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
She had thought her Olympic career was over after lightweight rowing was dropped from the Olympic calendar. But after experiencing the rest of the Paris Games, Grant felt a new spark and decided to try and qualify for the 2028 Olympics in a different discipline. To get to Los Angeles, Grant would have to become a different kind of athlete and move into open-weight rowing, where she would face taller and heavier opponents.
Grant is significantly smaller than many of the women she is now competing with, but she has the technique and efficiency honed during years of being one of the world's best lightweight rowers. "It's not just about the raw power in a rowing boat," she explains. "It's about all of those other things, how well you can row with each other, how well you can move the boat." The challenge now is to see how much bigger and stronger she can become, which has meant fundamentally changing her relationship with food.
Grant is vegan, a decision linked to her commitment to climate activism and environmental sustainability. She is trying to add muscle while also meeting the huge energy demands of an Olympic endurance athlete. "We do so much training and eat so frequently that as long as we're getting three good meals a day, what we're eating around the sides, that doesn't really matter so long as it's energy dense," she explains. "We're an endurance sport, so carbs are king."
Grant estimates that she consumes around 3,500-4,000 calories a day when she's training, significantly more than when she was in lightweight rowing. The average woman needs 2,000 calories a day. Protein comes largely through tofu, chickpeas, beans, and vegan protein shakes. Grant is wary of presenting her diet as something remarkable, or suggesting sporting performance alone will persuade others to eat differently.
Results are beginning to show on the water. Grant helped Britain's women's quad team win World Cup gold in Lucerne in June. "It's been going well," she says. "I think it was a slow and steady start, trying to understand how to fuel and how to gain a bit of weight and gain a bit of muscle. I feel like the momentum has been really building."
Grant has now been selected alongside Paris Olympic champions Lola Anderson and Hannah Scott, plus Finnola Stratton, for this month's World Championships, taking place from 24-30 August in Amsterdam. "It's such a privilege to race as a lightweight and then turn my hand to seeing if I can throw my lot in with all of the open weight girls, who are so inspiring, and feel that I've got a shot," she adds.
Grant knows there are no guarantees. Reaching Los Angeles, for her, would mark 10 years of representing Britain. But it is the wider message that appeals to her, as much as the prospect of another Olympics appearance. "A lot of people think they're not built for rowing because they're too short or too small," she says. "Showing that that's actually not the case and you can still achieve if you're a little bit smaller is also really important."
If she does make it to LA, Grant says it would be "just amazing."
Source: Yahoo Sports