Gold medallist in tears over note from dead father: ‘Overwhelming’

Lola Anderson broke down after winning a gold medal at the Olympics as a note handed to her by her dying father touched the world.

A rowing champion has broken down in tears after winning gold, speaking about a note her father gave her before he died of cancer in an emotional interview.

As part of team Great Britain, Lola Anderson claimed gold in the women’s quadruple sculls by just 0.15 seconds in a nailbiting finish against silver medallists the Netherlands.

The Olympics champ gave an emotional interview to the BBC after the race. Picture: BBC

In an interview with the BBC after the race, Anderson recalled a note her father Don had given her months before his death in 2019.

Don had asked her to fetch his safety deposit box, which contained a snippet of an old diary entry she had written as a 14-year-old.

In it, she wrote about becoming an Olympic rowing champion after seeing Helen Glover win gold at London 2012.

Team GB are tipped to add more rowing medals to their collection in later rowing events. Picture: Getty

The note read: “My name is Lola Anderson and I think it would be my biggest dream in life to go to the Olympics and represent Team GB in rowing and, if possible, win a gold medal.”

But not long after writing it, in a moment of doubt over her dream, Anderson threw it in the bin.

Without telling his daughter, Don fished the note out of the bin and years later gave it to Anderson before his death.

Asked about the note after the win she told the BBC: “I’d forgotten about it obviously. A couple years ago my dad reminded me.

“I know he’d be so, so proud. I’m just thinking a lot about him right now, it’s really lovely.”

Anderson said she felt it had been “ages” working towards a gold medal.

Lauren Henry, Hannah Scott, Lola Anderson and Georgina Brayshaw of Team Great Britain celebrate winning the gold medals, Picture: Getty

“We’re always very process driven and looking to what comes next but when you get to the end of a cycle like this and it doesn’t get bigger than this it’s really quite overwhelming to experience this but be really grateful,” she said.

Speaking about the note to the Guardian before the Olympics, Anderson said her father, who introduced her to the sport, believed in her when she didn’t.

“I kinda thought that was a really cocky, arrogant thing to have written. Back then, on a good day I wasn’t capsizing. I ripped the page out and threw it in the bin,” she said.

“Teenage girls don’t necessarily have the most belief in ourselves and I got very embarrassed.

“It reflects to me how much he cared, invested and believed in me and my siblings, even when we couldn’t see it. There was nothing to show I had any talent when I first started rowing but he kept the note and chose to believe.”

Originally published as Gold medallist in tears over note from dead father: ‘Overwhelming’