'Motherhood doesn't have to stop your ambitions'

Georgie Brayshaw won a gold medal at the Paris Olympics in 2024 as part of Team GB's women's quadruple sculls.

She has now set her sights on returning to the Olympic podium in Los Angeles in 2028, this time as a mother of twins.

"It would be amazing to get a gold medal and put it round my children's necks."

Georgie, who is based in Wallingford, Oxfordshire, gave birth to her twin sons in August last year.

While pregnant, they were diagnosed with rare conditions including Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome and Twin Anaemia-Polycythaemia Sequence, known as TAPS.

Georgie needed surgery on her placenta while the babies were still in the womb.

"That was very touch and go. We didn't know if the babies would make it," she told BBC News.

The twins were born prematurely and spent time in neonatal care, which Georgie described as "really scary".

It was not the first time Georgie had to overcome a major challenge in her life.

As a teenager, she suffered a head injury that left her in a coma for nine days after falling off a horse. She was temporarily paralysed down her left side and was told she might never walk again.

But she proved doctors wrong and learned to walk again, before going on to win Olympic gold years later.

The boys are now healthy, happy toddlers, and Georgie has returned to training.

"Every day I train in their naps, so no rest for me. I get them to sleep and then I quickly get them into the pram and down to the gym," she said.

She says it is a case of "juggling different things" while remaining determined to complete her training sessions.

"I hope that they will see determination, hard work and strength does get you places."

Georgie credits new maternity support for Olympic athletes for allowing her to continue her rowing career.

"It's meant that my dreams and my ambitions haven't had to stop since getting pregnant and having babies. I wouldn't be able to get back to rowing if I didn't have it," she added.

In 2021, UK Sport introduced new pregnancy guidance and support, allowing athletes on its World Class Programmes to continue receiving their full funding during pregnancy and for up to nine months after giving birth.

Paris 2024 was the first Olympic Games where the new support was in place.

Andrew Dagnell, head coach of the British women's Olympic rowing team, says it is "tremendously exciting" to see Georgie and other mothers accessing this support.

"The reality is, we lose these athletes and we've spent a lot of years developing them to the level that they're at and capable of winning medals, and we want to see them do that for two or three Olympic cycles," he said.

"We want our mums to be able to continue with their careers in sport and they can't do it without these programmes."

Georgie now begins an intense training period as she rejoins the National Training Squad in Caverhsam, Berkshire, with less than two years to go until the Los Angeles Olympics.

"I'll be training six days a week," she says, explaining that she and her husband have agreed the sacrifices are worth it.

"It's two years of our lives. Let's give it absolutely 100%, see how far we can get."

Dagnell said: "All the medalists are pretty much back on the sculling side, so she'll find it very difficult to break her way back in. But if anyone can, I'm sure I back Georgie to do that."

Husband Ashley Tuton said their sons are already beginning to see the example she is setting.

"They're already picking up her resilience and epicness... I think they can be very proud little boys of their mummy."