What happens after you win an Olympic gold medal? Instant celebrity status, book deals, and a lot of champagne – or simply pats on the back and a feeling of a job well done? We paid a visit to Laura Collett at her Gloucestershire base after she returned home from her successes at Paris 2024. It was two weeks after she led her British eventing team-mates Ros Canter and Tom McEwen to gold and secured individual bronze at Versailles, and the dust was just starting settle.
“I’m not sure it’ll ever properly sink in,” says Laura. “It’s such a whirlwind, you’re out there, then it’s back to riding horses at home, going to Hartpury and Aston-le-Walls – I spent that time wondering, did it really happen?”
London 52 and Laura Collett arrive home to a hero’s welcome after their Olympic success in Paris
(Image credit: JESS PHOTOGRAPHY)
Laura Collett returns to Olympic stage
When Laura and I speak, she has just walked in the door from an “amazing” return trip to Paris, which made it all feel more real.
She explains: “Ros was always planning to go back for the closing ceremony. Then after we did well, she said, ‘You should come back’. I thought, ‘It’s quite a hassle…’ and then I thought, ‘This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so don’t be ridiculous – get on and plan it’. Even if I’m lucky enough to go to another Olympics, the next couple are so far away, you won’t be able to nip back.
“We had early times at Aston on Friday, took my car, drove into London, got the train, somehow crossed Paris and went straight to the athletics stadium.”
As well as the closing ceremony, “which got crazy when we realised Tom Cruise was on the roof”, the pair did the walk through Champions Park at the Trocadéro Gardens.
“That was a completely insane experience – we had breakfast in a little cafe and suddenly realised that the streams of people were queuing to get into the park,” says Laura. “We got to go in the athletes’ lounge and had our make-up done – we felt like right little celebrities.
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“We thought we’d walk as part of Team GB, but they do it by sport, so it was literally me and Ros walking down in front of all these people. I said, ‘I think I’m more nervous for this than I was for competing,’ and Ros just looked at me and said, ‘I don’t know, you looked pretty nervous before the showjumping.’”
They say that success breeds success, and Laura’s return to normality has looked pretty good so far. She had five entered at Aston-le-Walls the week she got back from Paris, and won three classes.
Read the full interview with Laura in 22 August edition of Horse & Hound magazine
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Pippa is a true eventing geek and has been H&H’s eventing editor since 2005. She has first-hand experience of competing up to British Eventing intermediate and international CCI2*-L level, and has worked in the industry on a top event yard. Pippa enjoys nothing more than immersing herself in the sport at the highest level, reporting from the five-stars and international championships, including the Olympics.
