Trinity College honours alumna Imogen Grant's Olympic Games ...

Trinity College honoured alumna Imogen Grant for her Olympic Games triumph in the lightweight women’s double sculls today (Friday, 2 August) by placing a replica gold medal on the statue of its founder King Henry VIII.

And the blades of a pair of oars were also given a golden colour and displayed at Great Gate beneath the monarch’s statue in recognition of Imogen and rowing partner Emily Craig storming to victory in Paris.

The statue, which dates from the early 1600s holds an orb in his left hand and in his right hand, an old chair leg – a student prank that dates back around 100 years. But today a gold medal – a replica of the Olympic medal made in wood by the college’s senior carpenter Jon Squires – hung from the statue.

Imogen and Emily have been unbeaten as a pair since finishing fourth at the Games in Tokyo three years ago. The world record holders crossed the line in Paris with an almost two-second lead in what is the final Olympic lightweight contest – the event will not be held in Los Angeles 2028 or beyond.

Three-time Boat Race winner Imogen was born in Cambridge in 1996 and raised in Bar Hill. The 27-year-old was introduced to rowing during her first year of studying medicine at Trinity, in 2014, and only got into a boat because Trinity’s Boat Club offered a free drink to freshers who signed up for a taster session.

Imogen is the first female alumna of Trinity to win an Olympic medal and the first Trinity gold medalist since Mexico 1968 when Derek Allhusen won gold in an equestrian event.

The master of Trinity, Dame Sally Davies, said: “We are extremely proud of Imogen’s achievement at the Paris Olympics. Together with her rowing partner Emily, Imogen has shown incredible dedication, determination and resilience, as well as superlative organisational skills, juggling her academic and sporting commitments, including through the Covid pandemic.

“Trinity College is place of learning – and living life to the full, whatever your passion. We encourage students to pursue interests beyond their studies, whether that’s a new pursuit, for fun and relaxation, or at national and international level.

Alumnus Neil Talbott, who coached Imogen in her early days of rowing at Trinity, said from Paris: “Extraordinary performance to take apart a world-class field. Truly outstanding, and fitting that the fastest women’s lightweight double in history will be the reigning Olympic champions in this event forever. So much love and congratulations from the whole Imogen fan club in the stands here!”

Vice master of Trinity, Professor Louise Merrett, said: “Congratulations and thank you Imogen, for showing us what one can achieve if you put your mind and body to it.”

Imogen and Emily celebrated an emotional win in front of their families and friends after Imogen’s parents set up an ‘Emily and Imogen in Paris’ WhatsApp group.

The two claimed the seventh gold medal for Team GB on Friday having missed out on a spot on the podium at the Tokyo games by one-hundredth of a second – an agonising moment which Imogen has had a picture of on her wall ever since.

Imogen was in floods of tears at the medal ceremony and both of them appeared to sing the national anthem loudly.

Cambridge University Boat Club and University of London Boat Club both 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, Imogen’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.

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”.

The rower’s mother, Tracy, set off from the UK with union-flag painted nails and predicted she would be shouting “very loudly” while watching her daughter compete.

Before the Games, Imogen said it was going to be “amazing” to have her loved ones watching her compete.

“My parents set up a WhatsApp group called Emily and Imogen in Paris,” she said. “I know that that invite link has been sent around to a lot of people. It’s really exciting and it’s going to be amazing having everyone there.”

Imogen graduated in 2023 and she starts the next stage of her medical training on Monday in Oxfordshire. She also has a Blue in cycling and is an ambassador for the Rivers Trust.

Imogen and Emily’s success came after 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. They went to school together and linked up again at the University of Cambridge where they competed in the Boat Race.