Behind the scenes at Trinity’s Olympic celebrations

Last week, as alumna Imogen Grant and rowing partner Emily Craig prepared for the final of the Lightweight Double Sculls at Paris 2024, the Trinity community was on tenterhooks.

Current and former members of Trinity’s First and Third Boat Club, staff and Fellows arrived at the Boathouse, where the race would be projected onto the wall of a room normally lined with ergs.

Imogen and Emily, doctor and art historian respectively, had cruised through the Olympic heats, following their unbroken string of wins in European and national championships. They might be world record holders and favourites for Olympic gold, but no-one at Trinity or in the stands at the Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium was taking anything for granted.

Senior Tutor Professor Catherine Barnard, recalled from Paris: ‘When the announcer said the girls had not been beaten in eleven races there was a collective groan that this was tempting fate.’  That sentiment was shared by those who gathered to watch the race in the College Bar. ‘It was surprisingly tense,’ said Professor Adrian Poole.

As Imogen and Emily crossed the finish line – if rowing can be perfect this was it – cheers and applause burst out in delight and relief; cameras clicked, and student rowers Zara Bek and Rosie Baish, alongside Boatman Steve Harris and Fellow Professor Rebecca Fitzgerald, prepared for interview. The story of Cambridge’s homegrown gold medalist would lead ITV Anglia’s news that evening.

Meanwhile ‘GOLD’ messages whizzed to the carpenters and illumination team, who quickly finalised their wares.

Passing punters and visitors threw curious glances as Jon Squires and Peter Heath carried the golden blades across the Backs (and back again for the cameras.) But as with any major College event, the real action would be at Great Gate.

As gardener and carpenter rose up in the cherry picker towards the statue of Henry VIII, onlookers gathered. Mr Squires carefully hung the medal – meticulously made from plywood, MDF and brass screws – around Henry’s neck to applause from those on the cobbles.

Later, as dusk fell, the Team GB image of Imogen appeared on the huge doors below Henry and above, a rippling display for Trinity’s first female Olympic medalist flushed Great Gate red and pink.

Photos: Trinity College Cambridge.