Wales Pair Becky Wilde And Matt Aldridge Go Through The Pain Barrier To Earn Bronze

By David Williams

Welsh rower Becky Wilde and her Great Britain teammate Mathilda Hodgkins Byrne shared a remarkable comeback story to win Olympic bronze in the women’s doubles sculls.

They powered past a fancied Netherlands crew from lane two to upset the widely predicted top three placings.

The pair made it onto the podium at Paris 2024 after Hodgkins Byrne had taken time away from rowing after the Tokyo Olympics three years ago to have her son Freddie, now two.

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Wilde’s own break from the sport was enforced as she underwent surgery on both her forearms 10 months ago.

“I have had so many injuries,” said Wilde, 26, who swam internationally for Wales before she switched to rowing.

“I had forearm surgery last September and multiple broken ribs, and I’ve worked so hard to have got here.

“So many people also picked me up when I was at rock bottom and it’s them I have to thank really.”

Wilde said she was a “naughty auntie” to Freddie as she admitted to “winding him up” when playing together.

She said: “We’re so lucky to have him here. He keeps the journey real.”

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Hodgkins Byrne, who finished seventh at Tokyo, became the first mother to win a medal for Team GB in Olympic rowing.

The 29-year-old from Hereford won her medal about 30 minutes before mother-of-three Helen Glover added a silver in the women’s four to the golds won at London 2012 and Rio 2016.

“It’s quite surreal to be honest,” said Hodgkins Byrne.

“I knew we could do it beforehand but knowing you can do it is very different to actually being able to do it.

“We’ve seen from other races here, like anything can happen.

“My aim was to get the best out of us and that’s what we did.”

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New Zealand beat Romania to the gold with the margin of victory just 0.24 seconds.

Another Welsh rower, Matt Aldridge, also earned a bronze medal in the men’s four.

“Got a lot of pain at the moment, but a lot of pride. I’m Incredibly happy, that was possibly the best race we’ve done all Olympic cycle,” he said.

“This year we’ve had our ups and downs, but when it came to the biggest race of them all, we put together the fastest race we could.

“Hats off to every single athlete in that field, everyone is on top of their game, everyone is so strong. The Americans and the Kiwis are outstanding racers.

“Of course we were dreaming of coming here and winning.

“We went into that final believing if we get our race right, we can. We did everything within our power and we weren’t fast enough, sometimes that’s elite sport.

“You have got to take the wins where you can.”

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Aldridge, who started rowing for Wales in 2013, is already looking ahead to the next Olympic Games in Los Angeles, USA.

“Four more years and we’re going to come back and upgrade the colour [bronze] for sure,” he added.

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