Lola Anderson gets gold for her dad: Tearful Team GB rower reveals how her father kept her childhood diary entry about her dream of winning the Olympics – and gave it to her two months before he died from cancer
One of Britain’s last ‘golden girls’ from Paris has tearfully revealed how her tragic father gave her the teenage diary in which she promised to become an Olympic champion – a promise she has made good on today.
Lola Anderson was part of the Team GB women’s quadruple this morning who, along with teammates Hannah Scott, Georgie Brayshaw and Lauren Henry, won gold in a thrilling race to the finish with the Netherlands.
Anderson, 26, burst into tears after crossing the finish line just 0.15 seconds ahead of the silver medal winners, taking victory in a photo finish.
And then she told how much it meant to her: as a 14-year-old she had vowed that she would one day win Olympic gold, after being inspired by the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
She later threw the diary away because she found it embarrassing, but her father retrieved it and gave it to her when he was on his deathbed.
Lola Anderson (left) burst into tears as she told how her late father kept a diary as a teenager in which she vowed to become an Olympic champion
Team GB’s exhausted but victorious women’s quadruple sculls team took gold today in a dramatic photo finish at the end of their race, finishing just ahead of their Dutch rivals
Britain’s first women’s double four-sculls Olympic gold was celebrated today by (left to right) Hannah Scott, Lola Anderson, Lauren Henry and Georgina Brayshaw
Lola Anderson (left, with Hannah Scott next to her) cried after crossing the finish line 0.15 seconds ahead of the Dutch team who had to settle for silver
Wiping away tears after today’s victory, Lola said: ‘I had forgotten of course, but a few years ago my dad reminded me and I know he would be so, so proud.
‘I think about him a lot now and it’s wonderful.’
She told the BBC: ‘I’m sorry, it feels like you’ve been working towards this for ages.
“We’re always very process-oriented and just looking at what’s coming. But when you’re at the end of a cycle like this and it doesn’t get any bigger than this, then…
“It’s really overwhelming to experience this and I’m very grateful for it.”
Earlier this month she revealed what she wrote as a teenager: ‘I think my biggest dream in life would be to compete in the Olympics in rowing and if possible win a gold medal for Great Britain.’
Lola recalls: ‘Teenage girls don’t necessarily have the most confidence in themselves and I was really ashamed of it.
“I thought, ‘That’s a really arrogant and conceited thing to write.’”
The British team competing at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Centre in Vaires-sur-Marne consisted of (left to right) Georgina Brayshaw, Lola Anderson, Hannah Scott and Lauren Henry
Lola later told the BBC how she had been thinking of her late father Don
A photo finish was needed to determine the winners, with Team GB crossing the finish line first
There was British joy and Dutch devastation when the final result was confirmed
‘Then, one day, I wasn’t tipping over: I tore out the page and threw it in the trash.’
But in October 2019, she was reunited with it when her father Don asked her to pick up his safe, two months before he died of cancer.
She said, ‘It went completely over my head, I did what I was told.’
‘When I gave it back to him, he also gave me something back, namely that diary page.
‘He was clearly cleaning out my trash, saw this diary in the trash, and decided that he would give it back to me one day if it meant something, either as a lame joke or as something with real meaning.
‘He was a very positive person. That to me shows how much he cared about me and my siblings, how much he invested in me and believed in them, even when we couldn’t see it ourselves.
‘When I first started rowing, there was no evidence that I had any talent, but he kept my note and chose to believe in it.’
Lola Anderson, pictured in a post on her Instagram page, told how she dreamed of becoming an Olympic champion as a teenager but was embarrassed by her diary entry
Lola Anderson (right) was delighted with her win but had tears in her eyes when she was interviewed
The triumphant British team are congratulated by the bronze medallists from Germany
Anderson (right) struggled to control her emotions before honoring her late father
She told the BBC: ‘It’s really overwhelming to experience this and I’m very grateful for it’
Lola Anderson, 26, spoke with teammate Hannah Scott (right), 25
The same four who won gold last October in the Serbian capital Belgrade at the World Rowing Championships in the women’s double four.
Self-proclaimed ‘Swiftie’ Anderson can now focus on visiting her favorite singer with teammate Scott.
She said ahead of the Olympics: ‘I’m a huge fan of Taylor Swift and Hannah and I are going to see her when we get back from the Games.
“I’m really excited, but I still have to pick out my outfit. We always sing Bejeweled, so something sparkly would be nice.”