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Even amongst rowers, Great Britain’s Frances Houghton is a statuesque figure. At 193cm,
Houghton towers over her tall teammates. But, surprisingly, an early coach discouraged her
from taking up rowing, claiming she would struggle to balance the boat. Luckily Houghton
chose not to listen to his advice and already at the age of 16 she had made the national team as
a junior. The year was 1996 and Houghton went on to compete for 12 years without a break.
After racing at three Olympic Games – and collecting
two silver medals, both in the women’s quadruple
sculls – Houghton took some time off rowing. By that
point, Houghton, in addition to her Olympic medals,
had won three World Championship titles. She then
tried to catch up on a four-year-long to-do list which
included hip surgery, a cookery course in Ireland and
cross-country skiing in Norway.
At the 2010 World Rowing Championships, Houghton
raced to gold and this fourth World Championship title
is the one Houghton treasures most. “I really didn’t
expect to make it out to New Zealand [World Rowing
Championships], let alone be racing in a crew boat,” says
Houghton. “Even then, going into the championships
I wasn’t expecting we could win a medal. So when we
crossed the line first it totally blew me away.”
© Peter Spurrier/Intersport Images
But the pull of her rowing friends brought Houghton
back to rowing. “I love being around and working with
dynamic, driven people and working together to achieve
a goal,” says Houghton who returned to the boat in late
2009. Through 2010 Houghton worked her way back
onto the British team and into her most successful
boat, the quad.
