Hannah Scott stood on the balcony of Bann Rowing Club and looked down on the three Olympic medallists from Coleraine.
The 12-year-old had recently taken up the sport and for the previous three weeks had sat in front of the television, soaking up coverage of the London 2012 Games.
She had cheered on brothers Richard and Peter Chambers to a silver medal in the men’s lightweight four then cried with Alan Campbell when he stood on the podium to receive his bronze medal in the single sculls.
Now, here were the victorious trio, back home and being welcomed as heroes.
“When I watched Richard, Peter and Alan in 2012, from that point forward I just had this idea. I was like, ‘I really want to do that’.
“I really would love to go to the Olympics and I don’t think I ever thought I am going, I just thought, ‘let’s see how far I can get’.
“That was the dream. And my dream was ignited that day and I’ve been chasing it ever since,” explained Scott.
There were already connections with the Olympic medallists.
Scott’s father worked with the Chambers brothers’ dad and she attended DH Christie Memorial Primary School in the town where Campbell’s mum, Jenny, was the principal.
“I don’t think the boys quite realised that for me, from Coleraine, it almost set me up for what was to be my teenage years in terms of what I could do.
“It gave me a sense of hope that there’s something I can do here that could take me really far in terms of where I want to go.
“Had they not achieved what they did, I would probably never have known.
“I wouldn’t have watched it on TV, but it’s the fact that they came from here and I watched them with my own eyes and they were in this club.”
Scott began to excel as a junior
While not particularly into sports at school, from the moment she entered the Bann Rowing Club, unique because it sits below a Chinese restaurant, Scott found something she enjoyed.
As a teenager she soon began to excel at junior level.
It was after his final appearance at the Olympics in 2016 that Richard Chambers mentioned to me that I should watch out for this young girl from his club, and that she was the real deal.
So much so that Scott received a rowing scholarship to Princeton University in the USA.
“I’d never been to America before and that’s something that rowing provided me… Had I not done this sport, I would have never had the opportunity.
“I look back on my time at Princeton and it was incredible. The people I got to meet, the experiences all through rowing.”
COVID and the global pandemic cut short Scott’s American adventure by a year but she returned home positive and back into training on the River Bann, opting for a single scull which ultimately led to her selection for Team GB.
The 12-month delay to the Tokyo Games actually allowed Scott to qualify for Team GB – an Olympics she might not have otherwise gone to.
The excitement of making the quad sculls for an Olympic debut was tempered by not making the Olympic final, and when she returned to training in 2022 it was in the single sculls, where she would finish fifth in a world final.
Scott heads to Paris as world champion
Last year, with Olympic qualification on the line at the world championships in Belgrade, Scott and her team-mates – Georgie Brayshaw, Lola Anderson and Lauren Henry – took care of business by becoming world champions in a thrilling final.
“We were going in for a gold in that boat and last year we built through a season and we got a gold in the world championships at the end.
“At the time it was emotional and I felt really satisfied with it.
“But I still knew last year that Paris was this year and I’m still kind of holding my breath a bit because I know the big one’s still to come and you’ve got to keep your eyes on the prize and that’s what I’ve learned again from Tokyo.”
The quartet go into the Paris Olympic regatta as favourites after adding the European title and Lucerne World Cup to their burgeoning medal collection.
Great Britain has never won the Olympic gold in the women’s quad.
Twelve years on from being inspired to become an Olympian, now Scott has the opportunity to make history.
“It’s a day we’ve all committed to for the past three years. I think that’s the really special bit about it, but I’m just going to stay razor sharp and stay in my lane because that’s what I’m good at.
“I know when I get things from A to B fast as I can, simple, that’s where my mindset is.
“But you can’t get too carried away. Otherwise you lose sight of it, and I’m not I’m not planning to get distracted.
“I’m on a mission right now.”
