Jenny Bates

Jenny first became inspired by the Olympics as a 13 year old synchronised swimmer after watching her coaches compete for Team GB at London 2012. She made a promise to herself walking home through the Olympic park in Stratford, that one day, she too would make it to the Olympic Games. She had no idea what sport it would end up being. She was also voted ‘most likely to become an Olympian’ by her classmates at school and met Helen Glover, her idol at the time, whilst she was just starting off rowing, at a ‘I am Team GB day’ shortly after she had won gold in Rio. Embarrassingly now, Jenny recalls giving Helen a handwritten letter explaining how much she had inspired her, having got into rowing in the same way through the ‘start programme’ and being the same height which was considered on the smaller side at testing.

Jenny had her first GB representation coaching synchronised swimmers at the Down Syndrome Olympics, in Florence, Italy. After watching her swimmers compete and win a silver medal for Great Britain, it made her realise how much she too wanted to achieve her own sporting dreams of making it to the pinnacle of the sport, the Olympics.

Outside of rowing, Jenny is a business woman and ran her own business during lock down, selling pick and mix sweets world wide and has a masters in marketing and entrepreneurship from Oxford Brookes University. She is also a TASS athlete rep and likes to help other athletes on their own sporting journeys. After rowing, Jenny would love to dive into the sports marketing / journalism / broadcasting industry as well as help to make a difference to others through sport. Jenny loves rowing because of the people and the community it has introduced her to, the memories and races she has experienced, the opportunities it has led to and the places it has taken her to including Shanghai and USA!