Polly Swann interview: The Olympic rower back training for Tokyo 2020 after working on hospital wards

Swann’s work has certainly brought into perspective the effects of the pandemic, and how fortunate she is to be an Olympic athlete

Polly Swann: 'The Olympics does seem a very long way away' (Getty)

When the Covid-19 crisis struck it was a case of everybody mucking in and for Olympic silver medallist Polly Swann, that meant combining rowing training with long days on hospital wards.

The 32-year-old graduated in medicine in 2019 and then turned her attentions back to qualifying for Tokyo 2020 when the pandemic hit. So it was back to hospital and a three-month post on the wards supporting the surgeons – a role about which she was initially apprehensive.

“It’s going to be a bit weird when it all finishes,” said Swann, who is among 1,100 athletes on UK Sport’s World Class Programme, funded by The National Lottery, allowing her to train full-time and benefit from pioneering technology, science and medical support. “It’s been really cool though. At the start we were all baby doctors who didn’t know what we were doing and now we’ve found our feet.