John Collins

John took up Rowing as part of the Duke of Edinburgh award after a childhood of being rubbish at sport.

He was convinced by his dad Philip to give it a try. Philip was named after the Duke of Edinburgh, after his father, John’s grandfather was presented with an OBE by the Prince.

Now in his 20th year in the sport, John is trying to compete at his third Olympics. The Olympics is the only international level competition John is yet to win a medal in. His favourite part of the Olympic experience is being a part of the same team as some famous sporting legends. He reached this realisation when he had a beer with Sir Chris Hoy and Sir Bradley Wiggins at the British House in Rio.

After the Tokyo Olympics, John and his friend Dr Kevin Dutton became the first people to navigate the metro system of a major city on foot, in one go. After running all 320 miles to all stations on the London Underground and Docklands Light Railway, they then ran the London Marathon. This was in aid of a homeless charity, and so the pair ‘slept rough’ between the days of running. Once he has retired from international rowing, John and Kevin want to do the New York Metro system and Marathon.

His reason for taking up this massive challenge was to protect his mental health after a very tough Olympic Games. This was inspired after a very tough post Rio period where he considered stepping away from the sport. John brings his work home, as he has been in a relationship since 2016 with teammate Karen Bennett.

He is a huge fan of combat sports, and his sporting hero is Muhammad Ali.