Matt Gotrel is back to where it all started. After winning a gold medal at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games as part of Team GB’s rowing team, he has returned to the sport he loved from a young age.

Gotrel started sailing at age 8, alongside his father and grandfather. After learning the ropes, he quickly took to high-performance skiff sailing, progressing into the Olympic 49er class, in which he competed against, and got beaten by, his now teammates Dylan Fletcher and Chris Draper. 

After losing one too many times, Gotrel decided to start working toward a degree in engineering at Loughborough University. Sailing’s loss was rowing’s gain, as it was there that he took up rowing. Three years later, he joined the Great Britain Rowing Team, and with two world championships to his name, he won Olympic gold. 

But Gotrel couldn’t turn down the opportunity to get back in a boat, pull on the national jersey and represent Great Britain again in the Sail GP Great Britain Team, just now going a bit faster.

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