Olympic gold medalist breaks down in tears over note her dad gave her before he d!ed from cancer

Lola Anderson gets gold for her dad: Tearful Team GB rower reveals how her father kept her childhood diary entry about her dream of winning the Olympics – and gave it to her two months before he died from cancer

One of Britain’s latest Paris golden girls has tearfully revealed how her tragic father presented her with the teenage diary in which she vowed to become an Olympic champion – a promise she today fulfilled.  Lola Anderson was part of the Team GB women’s quadruple sculls crew claiming gold in a dramatic race to the line with the Netherlands this morning, alongside team-mates Hannah Scott, Georgie Brayshaw and Lauren Henry.

Anderson, 26, burst in tears after crossing the finishing line just 0.15 seconds ahead of the silver medallists, taking victory in a photo finish.  And she then revealed how much it meant to her – having vowed as a 14-year-old that she would one day win Olympic gold after being inspired by London 2012.  She later threw away the diary, thinking it embarrassing – only for her father to reclaim it from the bin and later hand it over to her when on his deathbed.

Lola Anderson (left) broke down in tears as she told of how her late father kept a teenage diary in which she had vowed to become an Olympic champion

Team GB’s exhausted yet triumphant women’s quadruple sculls team took gold today in a dramatic photo finish end to their race, edging just ahead of their Dutch rivals

Britain’s first women’s quadruple sculls Olympic gold was celebrated today by (left to right) Hannah Scott, Lola Anderson, Lauren Henry and Georgina Brayshaw

Lola Anderson (left, with Hannah Scott next to her) wept after crossing the finishing line 0.15 seconds ahead of the Netherlands team who had to settle for silver

Wiping away tears after today’s victory, Lola said: ‘I’d forgotten about it obviously but a couple of years ago my dad reminded me and I know that he’d be so, so proud.  ‘I’m just thinking a lot about him right now and it’s lovely.’  She told the BBC: ‘Sorry, it just feels like ages you’ve been working towards this.  ‘We’re always very process-driven, just looking to what comes next, but when you kind of get to the end of a cycle like this and it doesn’t get bigger than this.

‘It’s really quite overwhelming to just experience this and I’m really grateful.’  She revealed earlier this month how she had written as a teenager: ‘I think it would be my biggest dream in life to go to the Olympics in rowing and if possible win a gold for GB.’  Lola recalled: ‘Teenage girls don’t necessarily have the most belief in ourselves and I got very embarrassed.  ‘I kinda thought, “That was a really cocky, arrogant thing to have written”.   ‘Back then, on a good day I wasn’t capsizing – I ripped the page out and threw it in the bin.’

But she was reunited with it in October 2019 when her father Don asked her to get his safety deposit box, two months before his death from cancer.  She said: ‘It went straight over my head, I did as I was told.  ‘When I gave it back to him he then gave something back to me, which was that diary page.  ‘He’d obviously been cleaning out my little waste paper basket, seen this diary in the bin and decided he was going to give it back to me one day when it meant something, either as a silly joke or something with real meaning.

‘He was a very positive man – it reflects to me how much he cared, invested and believed in me and my siblings, even when we couldn’t see it.  ‘There was nothing to show I had any talent when I first started rowing but he kept the note and chose to believe.’  The same four who today previously clinched Rowing World Championships gold in their women’s quadruple sculls last October in the Serbian capital Belgrade.

Self-professed ‘Swiftie’ Anderson can now set her sights on going to see her favourite singer alongside team-mate Scott.  She said ahead of the Olympics: ‘I’m a big Taylor Swift fan, and Hannah and I are going to see her when we get back from the Games.  ‘I’m very excited, but I need to sort my outfit – we always sing Bejeweled, so something sparkly would be good.’