Rowing: Columbo helps Grainger’s search for gold

AFTER winning Olympic silver medals at Sydney, Athens and Beijing, it would have been understandable had Katherine Grainger elected against another torturous four-year cycle in pursuit of that elusive gold.

But the 34-year-old oarswoman, one half of a two-times world champion double sculls boat, has one of the most demanding training regimes in sport and admitted, “The fact that it’s London made that decision easier.”

The Glaswegian, who combines her training with studying for a PhD in homicide, told the BBC: “My first silver was a photo finish with the bronze, the second was a very clear silver and the third we were leading for most of the race. So each one has got that little bit closer to gold.”

Grainger, who also has Masters in medical law and medical ethics, added: “My Olympic career and my PhD have met at the same time and the culmination for both is 2012 . The Olympics is my priority, everything falls into that and if there are any distractions it will disappear. I can’t afford to let the PhD be a stress.

“I watch everything from Murder She Wrote to Law & Order, CSI, Sherlock. I pretend it’s work, so if I haven’t been to the library or written many chapters, I think ‘at least I put some hours in watching those educational programmes’. I spent years studying law and you learn to argue incredibly well. I try to argue that those hours I put in watching a Columbo double-bill mean that I need a rest now, although my supervisor isn’t quite on board with that yet.”

Such is the chemistry between Grainger and her rowing parner, Anna Watkins, that she constantly worries about her partner’s health. “There’s definitely a part of me that wants to wrap Anna in cotton wool, because it’s very, very special and our boat is utterly inter-dependent on each other,” she said.

“ If one of us isn’t right, it’s just not going to work. There is this unbelievable reliance on each other. I’m sure in the next few months there will be, ‘Don’t take any risks, back off if you’ve got a bit of a cold, maybe don’t go bungee jumping today’!”