Father ‘still shaking’ after son’s bronze as GB rack up Olympic medals in rowing

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

A father has said he is “still shaking” after his rower son won an Olympic bronze, as Team GB racked up medals in the sport.

Matt Aldridge secured third place on Thursday in the men’s four alongside his teammates David Ambler, Freddie Davidson and Oliver Wilkes.

It came hot on the heels of success in other Great British boats at Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium, with flagbearer Helen Glover taking silver in the women’s four – alongside Rebecca Shorten, Esme Booth and Sam Redgrave – and Mathilda Hodgkins Byrne and Becky Wilde winning bronze in the women’s double sculls.

Steve Aldridge, who coached his son at their local club in Dorset when the Olympian was younger, told the PA news agency after Thursday’s event: “I’m just coming down I think, although still shaking. What a race.”

He said he had been “worried” in the early stages as the GB boat was “a long way away”.

“It was nerve wracking,” he said. “We were sitting here watching it on the big screens with lots of people and you think: can they do it? Can they do it? and all of a sudden, they had done it.”

Of the moment his son and his teammates crossed the finish, Mr Aldridge said there was a feeling of “relief” on his and his wife Christine’s part.

“From Christine and I’s point of view the last two months of build-up, of churning stomachs and dread and all sorts of things like that you think: ‘Oh yes, he’s done it,'” he explained.

The four rowers were all smiles during the medal ceremony and Aldridge’s father believed they would be happy with the result.

“I think they’re going to be elated,” he said. “They did look happy.

“I think they will take that as a good result because we knew that the Americans and the Kiwis were very strong this year.

“To pull that off, yes, fantastic. I think that’s how the guys will feel.”

The United States and New Zealand boats came in first and second respectively in the race.

Glover, who won pairs gold at London 2012 and Rio 2016, can now add silver to her Olympic accolades.

Welsh rower Vicky Thornley, who won a silver medal for Great Britain with Katherine Grainger in the women’s double scull in 2016, said it was “an incredible achievement” for Glover and the crew to seal silver.

“You can tell they raced the race of their lives in that race,” she told PA at a screening at Fulham Reach Boat Club.

“Obviously everyone wants to win the gold, right? But let me tell you it’s really hard to win an Olympic medal or even be in an Olympic final so they should all stand on that podium proud,” she said of all the GB rowers who won medals on Thursday.

“They’ve represented their country and they’ve won an Olympic medal which will never be taken away from them.”

For Thornley, the “standout” was the women’s double sculls.

“I think the standout for me is that women’s double,” she said.

“They’ve come through a lot of adversity and Becky Wilde… that’s her third international race of all time. It’s incredible, she rowed with such maturity.

“And Matilda coming back from having a baby, they did an amazing job and to get a brilliant bronze medal they should be very proud.”

Glover, a mother-of-three, took four years out of the sport before the Tokyo Olympics and 12 months off after those Games before deciding to come back for more.

When Glover announced her campaign to get to Paris, she said the thought of her three children watching put “more fire in my belly than I ever thought possible”.

Posting a picture of her and the three youngsters on Instagram last year, she said: “To get to my 4th Olympic Games will be a challenge but the thought of these 3 watching me at from the finish line puts more fire in my belly than I ever thought possible.”

Ahead of the games, Glover, married to TV presenter Steve Backshall, said she felt “really proud” to be the most experienced member of GB’s women’s four crew.

“It’s funny because I think about when I went to my first games and my second games I had people like Katherine Grainger and people like that who I could look up to but also to ask questions and to be inquisitive and be interested and just try to absorb all of their information,” she told PA.

“And you just never think that’s going to end up being you so I think I now feel really proud of that because I remember thinking the world of Katherine and people like her.”