Zoe de Toledo

Rio 2016 Olympiad: 2013 – 2016

Zoe was once again selected to cox the women’s eight for the 2016 season and guided them to an eye-catching gold at the European Championships in Brandenburg, with GB surging through to take the victory in a perfectly-judged race. Another thrilling late push at the Lucerne World Cup saw the GB eight go mighty close to overhauling the Olympic and World Champions from the United States and they won silver again at the World Cup in Poznan, this time behind New Zealand.

No British women’s eight had won an Olympic medal before but Zoe and her crew-mates ended that wait at Rio 2016 as they took silver in a photo-finish after an epic race that featured another trademark surge through the field in the second half.

The 2015 season saw Zoe cox the women’s eight to Rio Olympic qualification with a fourth-placed finish at the World Championships in Aiguebelette.

The year had started with the European Championships in Poznan, where Zoe missed the heats and repechage through illness. She returned for the final and looked well on course for a medal until an unfortunate boat-stopping crab in the closing stages meant GB had to settle for fifth place.

They hit back with impressive bronze medals at the Varese and Lucerne World Cups, twice going under six minutes at the first of those, before finishing less than a second shy of the podium in Aiguebelette.

Zoe coxed the eight to three fourth-placed finishes during the 2013 season – at the World Cups in Sydney and Lucerne, plus the World Championships in Chungju.

She got the 2014 campaign off to a great start by coxing the eight to a fine silver medal at the European Championships in Belgrade. Bronze followed at the World Cups in Aiguebelette and Lucerne before GB finished the season with sixth place at the World Championships in Amsterdam.

London 2012 Olympiad: 2009 – 2012

Zoe won a gold medal with the eight at the 2009 World U23 Championships in Racice before coxing GB to seventh place at the European Championships in Brest later that year.

She returned to the European Championships in 2011 and 2012, finishing fourth in Plovdiv before winning bronze in Varese.

Zoe used to sing and dance at Grade 8/Diploma level before taking up rowing at school – she won her first National Championships medal in the same year.

She continued to cox while studying for an MSc in Psychological Research at Oxford Brookes University. While reading for an MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice at Oxford University, she coxed the Oxford reserve crew Isis to victory at the Boat Race. She also coxed Oxford during the eventful 2012 Boat Race, which was stopped when a protester swam in front of the boats, and commentated for the BBC on the first-ever Women’s Boat Race on the Tideway in 2015.

Zoe’s hobbies are reading, cooking and reading about cooking, with “being Nigella Lawson” the job she would love to have away from rowing. Nigella would be one of her ideal dinner guests, along with psychologist Philip Zimbardo and F1 racing driver Niki Lauda who she admires for his “precision and relentless dedication”.

A fan of The West Wing, Zoe’s musical tastes include rock, country and some pop – “anything that reminds me of specific people or moments in my life.”

Zoe is Lottery funded through UK Sport.