THORNLEY Victoria

General
SINGLE FOCUS
She occasionally competed in single sculls earlier in her career, but began to focus predominantly on the single boat after the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. At the world championships in 2019 she became the first female British rower to secure an Olympic quota spot in single sculls since the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. "[The single] has kind of always been my dream. I've always looked at the single scullers over the years I've been rowing and just thought I'd love to be quick enough to be competitive for a medal in the single, and then ultimately at the Olympic Games. I love the experiences I had in a crew boat and I would have never changed them because they've made me the athlete I am today, but this is the ultimate dream for me." (BBC, 09 Mar 2020; teamgb.com, 22 Aug 2019; telegraph.co.uk, 30 Aug 2019)

OVERTRAINING
She missed the 2018 World Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, due to what she described as overtraining. "My body was crying out for a break. It's taken me a long time to stop beating myself up about it because it was self-sabotage in a way. It's only now [2019] really I can talk about it and not get upset and angry at myself. I've had to talk about it a lot to forgive myself because there are a lot of people around me supporting me. I felt I was kind of letting my coach down in a way. He wasn't able to see the fruits of our labour that we did together because I didn't get to race the [2018] world championships." (bbc.co.uk, 12 Mar 2019; werow.co.uk, 10 Aug 2019)

HEIGHT
She says she was conscious of her height when she was growing up and was bullied at school because of it. Some modelling assignments helped improve her self-image as a teenager, but it was rowing that helped transform her outlook. "It has been great finding something for which my height is useful. Now I love being tall, I am surrounded by tall people and have come to realise what a huge asset it is - I could not row without being tall. I really enjoyed [modelling as a teenager]. I wanted to do it full on, but I was never going to make it on the London scene or the big catwalks around the world. I probably could have made a career out of it but I wanted to go the whole hog or nothing at all." (walesonline.co.uk, 06 Aug 2011; dailymail.co.uk, 20 Dec 2011; sportsister.com, 06 Nov 2009; dailymail.co.uk, 20 Dec 2011)

OTHER ACTIVITIES
She is a qualified fitness instructor and personal trainer, and offers services as a health and wellbeing consultant. She also works as a patron for non-profit organisation KidsOut, which helps disadvantaged children. From 2018 to 2020, she served as captain of Leander Club in Henley-on-Thames, England. (henleystandard.co.uk, 19 Apr 2021; Instagram profile, 12 Apr 2021; LinkedIn profile, 01 Jan 2020)

In 2009 she was part of the first British women's eight crew to win a gold medal at the U23 world championships. (SportsDeskOnline, 01 Jan 2020; chesterchronicle.co.uk, 06 Aug 2009; britishrowing.org, 16 Dec 2015)