1. Helen Glover has been a British champion in both women's fours and quadruple sculls.
30 Facts About Helen Glover
1. 2.
Helen Glover retained her world title and set the world record time in partnership with Heather Stanning at the 2014 World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam.
3.
Helen Glover retired after the Olympics to begin a family.
4.
Helen Glover was born in Treliske Hospital, Truro to Rachel, a physiotherapist who trained at Guy's Hospital, and Jimmy Helen Glover, a school teacher and Oxford University graduate.
5.
Helen Glover grew up in Penzance in a competitive athletic family with older brother Benjamin, younger twin brother Nathan, and younger sisters, Ruth and Freya.
6.
Helen Glover's father is a retired school teacher turned ice cream vendor.
7.
Helen Glover's father was an all-round sportsman who played tennis at Junior Wimbledon, played football for Penzance 'Magpies' FC and captained the Penzance Pirates rugby team.
8.
Helen Glover participated in a variety of sports: as a junior she ran cross-country and middle-distance track both for Cornwall and internationally for England, winning a junior international gold medal for England in cross-country running; she played tennis for Cornwall; she swam for Cornwall; she captained the Cornish hockey team; and by the age of 14 was part of the England Satellite Squad for hockey.
9.
Helen Glover was fourth at the British Indoor Rowing Championships on 26 October 2008.
10.
In February 2010, Helen Glover gave up her teaching job and lived with no income while focussing exclusively on training for the national team selection trials.
11.
In 2011, Helen Glover and Stanning won the coxless pair event at the GB Rowing Team Senior Trials at Eton-Dorney with a time of 7 minutes 15 seconds.
12.
Helen Glover and Stanning finished second in the 2011 World Rowing Championships at Lake Bled, Slovenia, 0.1 seconds behind the winning New Zealand crew of Haigh and Scown, despite both getting a stomach bug when they arrived in Slovenia.
13.
On 1 August 2012, Helen Glover and Stanning won the gold medal in the women's coxless pair at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
14.
On 30 September, Helen Glover, partnered by Heather Stanning, retained her world title at the 2014 World Rowing Championships held at the Bosbaan, Amsterdam.
15.
On 14 February 2015, Helen Glover recorded her first victory in the GB Rowing, single scull, open-weight assessment trial held on the River Witham at Boston, Lincolnshire.
16.
Helen Glover completed the 5-kilometre course in 20 minutes 16 seconds, finishing 14 seconds clear of nearest rival Katherine Grainger.
17.
On 31 May, Helen Glover, partnered by Heather Stanning, retained her European title at the 2015 European Rowing Championships held in Poznan, Poland.
18.
Helen Glover and Stanning retained their World title at the 2015 World Rowing Championships in Lac d'Aiguebelette, France, on 5 September.
19.
On 20 November 2015, the World Rowing Federation announced that Helen Glover and Stanning had won the award for '2015 World Rowing Female Crew of the Year'.
20.
On 8 May 2016, Helen Glover and Stanning won the European Rowing Championships at Brandenburg an der Havel to retain their European title.
21.
In January 2021 it was announced that Helen Glover had restarted training.
22.
In interviews they noted that Swann had not raced for two years and Helen Glover had not for five years, since the Olympic final in Brazil.
23.
In October 2022 Helen Glover made her debut in the World Rowing Coastal Championships, and won silver in the women's solo class of the 'Beach Sprint' finals.
24.
Helen Glover was selected as part of the women's coxless four in the Great Britain squad for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
25.
Helen Glover was chosen to be one of Team GB's flag-bearers at the opening ceremony alongside diver Tom Daley.
26.
On 13 March 2018 it was announced that Backshall and Helen Glover were expecting twins.
27.
Helen Glover was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to rowing, which she received from Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle on 10 April 2013.
28.
On 27 March 2016, Helen Glover and Stanning presented winners' trophies to the Cambridge men's and Oxford women's crews in the Varsity Boat Races.
29.
Helen Glover, along with husband Steve Backshall, is an ambassador for The Scout Association.
30.
Helen Glover was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2025 New Year Honours for services to rowing.