Helen Rachel Mary Glover, a British professional rower and a member of the Great Britain Rowing Team is excellently known as Helen Glover. She is well recognized for winning a gold medal at the 2012 Olympics as well as for being the first woman in her country’s history to do so. She is also the winner of the BBC “Olympic Superstars” game show. Along with partner Heather Stanning, she holds Olympic, European, and World records in her sport. A talented multi-sport athlete growing up, she excelled at running and hockey. In recognition of her athletic accomplishments, she was named a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 2013 and received a “Blue Peter” gold badge in 2014. In June 2021, Helen and Swann were named to the women’s pair for the Summer Olympics in Tokyo 2021.
Helen Glover is back in the boat
Helen Glover was in retirement when the coronavirus pandemic struck and the Olympics Games were postponed – but the 35-year-old is back in the boat and aiming to make a sensational comeback in Tokyo. Glover had bowed out of rowing after taking gold at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro to start a family, but the postponement of the Tokyo Games and lockdown in the United Kingdom gave Glover the opportunity to target a return for a third tilt at gold in Tokyo.
Source: @dailymail.co.uk
Famous For
- Being a British professional rower and a member of the Great Britain Rowing Team.
- For winning a gold medal at the 2012 Olympics.
What is Helen Glover Nationality?
Helen Glover stepped for the very first time into this world on 17th June 1986 in Truro, Cornwall, England. Her parents gave her birth with the real name of Helen Rachel Mary Glover. She is of British nationality and she belongs to British-white ethnicity. Similarly, her religion is Christian and her race is white. Helen has celebrated her 35th birthday recently in 2021 and as per her birth date, her star sign is Gemini. Her father, Jimmy Glover is a school teacher and Oxford University graduate whereas her mother, Rachel Glover is a physiotherapist who trained at Guy’s Hospital. She has a younger twin brother Nathan and younger sisters Ruth and Freya.
Talking about Helen’s education, she is educated at Heamoor Community Primary School and Humphry Davy School in Penzance. She won a sports scholarship to Millfield School in Somerset between 2002 and 2004 due to her running and hockey prowess. Later at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff Glover studied Sport and Exercise Science, and then studied for a PGCE at the University College Plymouth St Mark & St John, in order to teach physical education to secondary school children.
What does Helen Glover do for a living?
- Helen Glover kicks off her career being applied to the Sporting Giants scheme in July 2008 where she was placed on GB Rowing Team’s “Start” program under coach Paul Stannard at Minerva Bath Rowing Club in Bath, Somerset. On 26th October 2008, she was fourth at the British Indoor Rowing Championships whereas she also won the Bernard Churcher Trophy in the senior single scull at the Henley Women’s Regatta in 2009.
- She gave up her teaching job in February 2010 and rowed with the Reading University eight and finished third at the Women’s Eights Head of the River Race.
- She finished 5th at the GB Rowing Team Senior Trials, won a place on the team, gained Lottery funding, and was paired with Heather Stanning in the women’s coxless pair in April.
- Robin Williams began coaching Helen and Stanning in July when they were ranked 16th and 17th in their event. They improved so rapidly that by November they won a silver medal at the 2010 World Rowing Championships at Lake Karapiro in New Zealand.
- They won the coxless pair event at the GB Rowing Team Senior Trials at Eton-Dorney with a time of 7 minutes 15 seconds in 2011 as well as 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.
- Helen and Stanning again won the coxless pair event at the GB Rowing Team selection trials at Eton Dorney on 10th-11th March in 2012 and went on to complete a clean sweep of all three events in the women’s coxless pair of the World Rowing Cup.
- They also won the gold medal in the women’s coxless pair at the 2012 Summer Olympics on 1st August 2012. Having already set a new Olympic record of 6 minutes 57.29 seconds in the heats, they finished the final ahead of Kate Hornsey and Sarah Tait of Australia, and Juliette Haigh and Rebecca Scown of New Zealand. This was Team GB’s first gold medal of London 2012, and the first-ever Olympic gold medal for British women’s rowing.
- Helen became the women’s champion of the “BBC’s Olympic Superstars 2012” in December after winning the 800-meter run in 2 mins 24 seconds, plus the swimming, cycling, and gym rounds, as well as she, won the women’s single scull at the GB Rowing Team Trials held at the Redgrave Pinsent Rowing Lake, Caversham, Berkshire in April 2013.
- She teamed up with Polly Swann, Victoria Meyer-Laker, and Frances Houghton to win the Princess Grace Challenge Cup for women’s quadruple scull in July at the Henley Royal Regatta.
- Then she became the world champion at the 2013 World Rowing Championships at Chungju in South Korea on 31st August by teaming up with Polly Swann in the women’s coxless pair. They were voted as Team of the Year by the SportsSister organization in December 2013.
Source: @bbc.com
- She was the International Rowing Federation’s Athlete of the Month and featured on its World Rowing site in September 2013.
- Helen was part of the composite crew that won the Women’s Eights Head of the River Race on the River Thames in London on 17th March 2014, setting a record time of 17:42.2 for the 4 1⁄4-mile (6.8 km) Championship Course from Mortlake to Putney.
- As well, Swann and Glover set a new European best time of 7 minutes 9 seconds, and in the final on 1st June they lowered it to 7 minutes 3.62 seconds, finishing 5 seconds ahead of the reigning European champion Christina Grigoras and Laura Oprea of Romania. This made Helen the first British rower to hold the Olympic, World, and European titles simultaneously.
- She also won gold at the second and third rounds of the World Rowing Cup at Lac d’Aiguebelette in France in June and Lucerne Rotsee on 13th July teaming with Heather Stanning in the women’s coxless pair.
- On 30th September 2014, Glover, partnered with Heather Stanning, retained her world title at the 2014 World Rowing Championships held at the Bosbaan, Amsterdam. They won both their heat and the semi-final and set a new world record time of 6:50.61 in the final, breaking 2002.
- Helen was also part of the composite crew that won gold in both the women’s fours sweep event and the quad sculls at the British Rowing Championships on 18th-19th October at Holme Pierrepont.
- She was officially ranked #2 female rower in the world by World Rowing at the end of 2014 as well as she recorded her first victory in the GB Rowing, single scull, open-weight assessment trial held on the River Witham at Boston, Lincolnshire on 14th February 2015.
- She was part of the composite crew that won the Women’s Eights Head of the River Race on the River Thames in London on 14th March 2015, setting a time of 18:58.6 for the 4 1⁄4-mile (6.8 km) Championship Course from Mortlake to Putney.
- She and Heather Stanning won the women’s pair at the British rowing trials at Caversham on 19th April 2015 and Glover, partnered by Heather Stanning, retained her European title at the 2015 European Rowing Championships held in Poznan Poland on 31st May. They won both their heat and the semi-final and set a new European record time of 6:58.28 in the final.
- Glover and Stanning won gold in the women’s coxless pair at the second round of the World Rowing Cup at Lake Varese in Italy on 21st June 2015 and they also retained their World title at the 2015 World Rowing Championships in Lac d’Aiguebelette, France, on 5th September.
- Helen was officially ranked #1 female rower in the world by World Rowing after retaining her world title in 2015 whereas the World Rowing Federation (FISA) also announced on 20th November 2015 that Glover and Stanning had won the award for ‘2015 World Rowing Female Crew of the Year’.
- Helen and Stanning won the European Rowing Championships at Brandenburg an der Havel to retain their European title on 8th May 2016 and they also won both their heat and their semi-final but were unable to start in the final due to Stanning’s sickness in the World Rowing Cup II at Lucerne, Switzerland, from 27th-29th May.
- Glover and Stanning won the final of the World Cup III event at Poznan, Poland on 19th June 2016, setting a new World Cup Best time of 6 minutes 52.79 seconds to finish 1.6 seconds ahead of the newly crowned World Cup Champions. They won the Olympic final in Rio de Janeiro on 12th August.
- Moreover, Helen won a European gold medal in the coxless pair in Varese, Italy in 2021. A few days before her first race in the Tokyo Olympics o 19th July, BBC TV broadcast “Helen Glover: Mother Of All Comebacks”.
Awards and Achievements
- Helen was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to rowing.
- She was awarded a “Blue Peter” badge on 26th June 2013, and on 26th September 2014, she was also awarded a “Blue Peter” gold badge.
- In August 2013, fuchsia “Helen Glover” was awarded Certificate 8162 by the American Fuchsia Society.
2009
- 1st – Bernard Churcher Trophy, Henley Women’s Regatta, senior single scull.
2010
- 3rd – Women’s Eights Head of the River Race, River Thames, Reading University eight.
- 5th – GB Rowing Team Senior Trials, single scull.
- 9th – World Rowing Cup, Bled, coxless pair.
- 5th – World Rowing Cup, Munich, coxless pair.
- 2nd – 2010 World Rowing Championships, Lake Karapiro, New Zealand, coxless pair.
2011
- 1st – GB Rowing Team Senior Trials, Eton-Dorney, coxless pair.
- 1st – World Rowing Cup, Munich, coxless pair.
- 1st – World Rowing Cup, Lucerne, coxless pair.
- 2nd – 2011 World Rowing Championships, Lake Bled Slovenia, coxless pair.
2012
- 1st – GB Rowing Team Trials, Eton Dorney, 10th-11th March, coxless pair.
- 1st – World Rowing Cup, Belgrade, coxless pair.
- 1st – World Rowing Cup, Lucerne, coxless pair.
- 1st – World Rowing Cup, Munich, coxless pair.
- 1st – 2012 Summer Olympics, London, 1st August, Coxless pair. Olympic record time.
2013
- 1st – GB Rowing Team Senior Trials, Redgrave Pinsent Rowing Lake, single scull.
- 1st – World Rowing Cup, Penrith Lakes, Australia, March, coxless pair.
- 1st – World Rowing Cup, Eton Dorney, London, June, coxless pair.
- 1st – World Rowing Cup, Lucerne, July, coxless pair.
- 1st – Henley Royal Regatta, Princess Grace Challenge Cup, quadruple scull.
- 1st – 2013 World Rowing Championships, Chungju South Korea, 31st August, coxless pair.
2014
- 1st – Women’s Eights Head of the River Race, River Thames, 17th March, women’s eight.
- 1st – GB Rowing Team Senior Trials, Redgrave Pinsent Rowing Lake, 19th April, coxless pair.
- 1st – European Rowing Championships, Ada Ciganlija, Belgrade, 30th May, coxless pair.
- 1st – World Rowing Cup, Lac d’Aiguebelette, France, June, coxless pair.
- 1st – World Rowing Cup, Lucerne Rotsee, 13th July, coxless pair.
- 1st – 2014 World Rowing Championships, Bosbaan, Amsterdam, 30th August, coxless pair. World-record time.
- 1st – British Rowing Championships, Holme Pierrepont, 18th-19th October, women’s fours.
- 1st – British Rowing Championships, Holme Pierrepont, 18th-19th October, quad sculls.
2015
- 1st – GB Rowing Open-weight trial, Boston, Lincolnshire, 14th February, single scull.
- 1st – Women’s Eights Head of the River Race, River Thames, 14th March, women’s eight.
- 1st – GB Rowing Team Senior Trials, Redgrave Pinsent Rowing Lake, 19th April, coxless pair.
- 1st – European Rowing Championships, Poznan, Poland, 31st May, coxless pair.
- 1st – World Rowing Cup, Lake Varese, 21st June, coxless pair.
- 1st – World Rowing Cup, Lucerne Rotsee, 12th July, coxless pair.
- 1st – 2015 World Rowing Championships, Lac d’Aiguebelette, France, 5th September, coxless pair.
2016
- 1st – GB Rowing Team Senior Trials, Redgrave Pinsent Rowing Lake, 22nd-23rd March, coxless pair.
- 1st – European Rowing Championships, Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany, 8th May, coxless pair.
- 1st – Heat and semi-final, World Rowing Cup 11, Lucerne, May, coxless pair.
- 1st – World Rowing Cup III, Poznan Poland, 19th June, coxless pair.
- 1st – 2016 Summer Olympics, Rio de Janeiro, 12th August, coxless pair.
Who is Helen Glover Husband?
Helen Glover is a married woman. She was engaged with TV naturalist Steve Backshall on 16th September 2015 whom she met at a Sport Relief event in 2014. The couple tied a knot on 10th September 2016 at Piskies Cove in West Cornwall.
Source: @bbc.com
It was announced on 13th March 2018 that Backshall and Glover were expecting twins. Sadly on 9th April Helen stated that one of the twins had died, but that she and Backshall were “hopeful for the remaining baby to arrive this summer”. She announced on social media on 24th July 2018 that she had given birth to a baby boy. Then on 16th January 2020, she gave birth to twins (a boy and a girl). Concerning Helen’s sexual orientation, she is straight.
Source: @instagram.com/helenglovergb
How much is Helen Glover Net Worth?
Helen Glover is a versatile woman who has a net worth of $1.7 million as of 2021 whereas her exact amount of salary has not been revealed yet. But we can surely assume her salary is around thousands of dollars per year. She has not done any endorsement work yet. In addition, her major source of income is from her professional rower career and she is happy and satisfied with her profession.
What is the Height of Helen Glover?
Helen Glover has 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) of height with an athletic body build. Her body weighs around 11 st 0 lb; 154 lb (70 kg). She had the perfect body combined with good looks. Helen has attractive blonde hair and dark brown eyes color. Her usual exercises schedule has guided her to be in marvelous body posture with appropriate body measurement.
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