Gold medal winning Olympian goes back to old school in Rugby and gets red carpet treatment

Staff and students at Rugby High School were honoured to have a visit from the former student for a series of special assemblies.

Lauren was welcomed with red carpet treatment and an arch of oars and brought her incredibly heavy gold medal for everyone to admire.

She answered many and varied questions, sharing the ups and downs of training and competing and how fortunate she feels to do something she loves as a career.

When quizzed about pre-race rituals, Lauren explained her dedication to ice baths and compression socks and when asked about the downsides of rowing she revealed she had had 12 broken ribs in three years.

After re-watching the finale of her race, Lauren spoke about being in a good position at the back of the boat to determine if they had won; she wasn’t 100% sure though and waited for it to be announced on the scoreboard before slapping the water in celebration.

Lauren said: “It was amazing to see how much it means to your family to see you achieve your dreams.”

Students queued up for autographs and selfies and Lauren even signed a pencil case; though that isn’t the most unusual autograph request as at a local primary school she was recently asked to sign a sock – and a leaf.