Sport Industry Dining: Helen Glover & Tom Dean
Last week, the last Sport Industry Dining of 2024 took place at Caravan Covent Garden in central London.
Sport Industry Dining is a series of exclusive dinners for Sport Industry Members, meeting four times a year at some of London’s most exclusive venues.
The series provides senior figures from leading brands, rights holders and agencies across the sport industry with the opportunity to network, socialise and hear from some of the most inspiring names in sport.
To round off 2024, presenter Sirayah Shiraz led proceedings and welcomed Paris 2024 Olympic medal winners Helen Glover and Tom Dean.
Helen and Tom spoke to a group of senior figures from the likes of Unilever, Williams F1, Paris St Germain, Aston Martin F1, Brighton & Hove Albion, Starling Bank, Spotify and the Premier League.
Helen, who won silver in rowing’s women’s coxless four in Paris, spoke about her experience being a flag bearer at the Games.
“I mean, I thought I might be on some sort of long list, but I only found out the day before I’d be doing it. And standing there, in the pouring rain, was real honour!”
The professional rower also highlighted the return to boat after having children and becoming a trailblazer as the first to do so for Team GB.
“I was never sure that I would come back but it was that athlete mentality that made me think ‘I can do this!’ And the twins would only fall asleep to the sound of a rowing machine! So, whenever they needed a nap, my training would start again!
Tom, who boasts a gold medal in the 4x200m freestyle from Paris, spoke about the build up to his first Olympics, in Tokyo, with the threat of the pandemic hanging over his chances to compete.
“We were told that if we caught Covid, got any positive lateral flows, even came in close contact with somebody infected, we were not going to Tokyo. So that was difficult in the run up to cut that part of it out of your mind. But as soon as I got the pool in Tokyo for the first time, it all felt real.”
Dean also spoke about the importance of being in a team, the first team to successfully defend an Olympic swimming relay title with the same four swimmers.
“It was incredible to be able to do it with the same group. And maybe we can go again in LA2028!”
Before the questions were opened to the floor Glover and Dean spoke about what they are doing outside of their professional sports at the moment. Tom is currently working on his own swim schools that already has 12,000 swimmers onboarded and Helen is working on an app for newborn mums which is focused on fitness and health.
Helen Glover and Tom Dean join Martin Offiah, Rebecca Adlington, Ugo Monye, Molly Thompson-Smith, Alessia Russo, Hannah Cockcroft, Ellie Simmonds, Jermaine Jenas, Will Buxton, Alex Scott and Aimee Fuller on the list of Sport Industry Dining speakers.
Access to Sport Industry Dining can be gained by purchasing a Sport Industry Membership. In addition, the package offers tickets to Sport Industry Socials, tickets and entries to the FEVO Sport Industry Awards, and a number of other generous discounts and benefits.
