It was a moment of “total, utter joy and elation” to watch Imogen Grant and Emily Craig cross the finish and secure a gold medal in the lightweight women’s double sculls, Grant’s mother has said.
The pair came first in Paris after missing out on a spot on the podium at the Tokyo Games by one-hundredth of a second – an agonising moment which Craig has had a picture of on her wall ever since.
Great Britain racked up a series of golds on Friday, with equestrians Scott Brash, Harry Charles and Ben Maher coming first in the jumping team final and Bryony Page winning gold in the women’s trampolining.
Tracy Grant, who set up an “Emily and Imogen in Paris” WhatsApp group ahead of the Paris Games, said she was “emotional” over her daughter’s success.
Speaking to the PA news agency from a re-watch party in the apartment where her family are staying in Paris, Mrs Grant choked up upon recalling the “awesome” race.
Asked what she felt in the moment the two crossed the finish and sealed gold, she said: “Total utter joy and elation. I hugged Emily’s mum first and then I hugged my husband, so the mums were in it together.”
Mrs Grant, who set off from the UK with Union flag painted nails, sat next to Craig’s mother and brother during the race.
“It was a little bit nerve wracking,” she said.
“They were very nervous because they don’t usually go to the regattas, we usually go to the regattas and could see Imogen’s race plan panning out in the way that we expected.”
She managed to see and speak to her daughter once the stands had cleared out a little.
“Imogen was just completely astounded by the numbers of supporters that had made the journey – people from Australia, New Zealand, America, all her friends, friends from the UK, family, people from a long time ago, her first rowing coach was there,” she said.
“So there’s all these people shouting and cheering for her and she was overwhelmed by that, so that was lovely to see and I actually got to put the gold medal around my neck as well.
“It’s very heavy, by the way.”
Mrs Grant said the rowing champions were “totally overwhelmed and elated” and are “the happiest people in the whole wide world”.
Craig, who was in floods of tears during the medal ceremony, has wanted an Olympic medal since she was six years old, Grant’s mother explained.
Rewatching it on the TV allowed the pair’s family and friends to see some of the action up close, and Mrs Grant said it was “really touching” to see them hold hands en route to the medal ceremony.
“They’re so connected as a double,” she added.
Mrs Grant said the plan was to “keep reliving the moment” on Friday evening, with some glasses of wine, before the end-of-regatta celebrations at Team GB House on Saturday.
Cambridge University Boat Club and University of London Boat Club congratulated the Olympic champions, with the former praising their “dominant display of lightweight rowing” and the latter posting on Instagram: “They’ve only gone and done it.”
Matthew Griffiths, Grant’s fiance, was one of her first novice rowing coaches at the University of Cambridge where they met around 10 years ago while the Olympian was studying medicine.
“She accelerated her own career and kind of left me behind there but we stayed together,” he joked, speaking to PA ahead of the Games.
He continued on a more serious note: “I’ve seen her entire journey from novice to Olympian.
“It’s also been an immense privilege to be able to see what that journey looks like.
“If you’re doing a medical degree at Cambridge at the same time, it’s quite difficult to do everything well but it’s one of her great strengths.”
He still coaches rowing on a voluntary basis at Upper Thames Rowing Club in Henley, and called himself a “rowing nerd”, saying he and Grant “never run out of things to talk about there”.
Earlier on Friday, Britons Ollie Wynne-Griffith and Tom George took silver in the men’s pair – losing out to Croatia by less than half a second after leading for much of the race – and Ireland rowers Fintan McCarthy and Paul O’Donovan completed back-to-back Olympic titles in the lightweight men’s double sculls.
Away from Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium, diving duo Jack Laugher and Anthony Harding came third in the men’s synchronised 3m springboard, with fellow GB divers, including Tom Daley, leaping to their feet in the stands after the final round.
Lois Toulson, who is in a relationship with Laugher, congratulated the pair with a message on her Instagram story: “What a team!! The best teammates anyone could ask for.”
