Survivor Brittain’s a winner before he even races in Rio
No matter what happens in the heats of the men’s pair rowing at the Olympic Games in Rio on Saturday, Lawrence Brittain will be a winner.
The most important goal in the Olympic Games should be not to win but to take part, just as the most important goal in life should be not the triumph but the struggle. The essential objective is not to have conquered but to have fought well.
Brittain’s attitude truly symbolises what the Olympic Spirit is all about. At the beginning of last year there was absolutely no guarantee that the Tuks/HPC rower would be able to compete at the highest level ever again as he’d just recovered from Hodgkin’s Disease (cancer of the lymph nodes).
But quitting is not a word in Brittain’s vocabulary. He was never going to forgo his dream to become an Olympian by allowing himself to become a ‘victim’. Because of Brittain’s never-say-die attitude the proud rowing tradition of his family is continuing without being interrupted.
In 2012 Matthew Brittain was a member of the ‘awesome foursome’ team that won a gold medal at the Olympic Games in London. Dad, David, just missed out on qualifying for the 1996 Games in Atlanta and mom, Danielle, is a team doctor for the national rowing squad. And there may be more to come. The two younger Brittain brothers, Charles and James, are also avid rowers.