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'I'm an Olympic champion - but my passion is art'

James DunnSouth East sports reporter, London
BBC Emily Craig is sitting down in front of a wall covered in paintings with ornate frames. She is at Darnley Fine Art in London, where she works, after retiring as Olympic Champion, winning gold in Paris in the lightweight double skulls.BBC
Emily Craig now works at Darnley Fine Art in London after retiring from rowing

Hanging artwork inside a fine art gallery near Leicester Square is not where you would expect to find a reigning Olympic champion.

Emily Craig, 33, won gold with Imogen Grant in the lightweight double skull event in Paris, dubbed the "last ever" champions, with the discipline now removed from the Olympic programme.

Imogen continues to row, hoping to reach LA in a higher weight class, but Emily, who is from Pembury, now works in the art world.

"I definitely don't regret it," she says. "I love my life now.

"This was always my plan and I'd done a lot of prep mentally and emotionally.

"But the result definitely helped, the itch was scratched."

In Paris, she met Rolling Stone Mick Jagger, and has since met King Charles III, been invited to the Royal Box at Wimbledon, and attended numerous film premieres.

PA Media Emily Craig, left, and Imogen Grant, right, with their gold medals at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. They are holding a British flag and wearing white Great Britain tracksuitsPA Media
Emily Craig, left, and Imogen Grant, with their gold medals at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games

Emily said she had given herself six months to enjoy being Olympic Champion, before turning her attention to a career in art, something she has always wanted.

She had considered retirement after the Tokyo Olympics, where she came fourth, with Imogen, missing out on a medal by 0.001 second.

"I couldn't really walk away with that being my last result," she said.

"But I went back with the mind that I would be retiring after Paris."

Emily did a history of art degree, and a masters in East-Asian art, before "handing in my dissertation and becoming a professional athlete for 10 years".

She had hoped for a "fairy tale" finish in Tokyo, but says Paris was a "very suitable place for an art lover to win gold".

Reuters Emily Craig, left, raises her hands in victory in the boat with rowing partner Imogen Grant after the pair won gold in ParisReuters
Emily Craig, left, raises her hands in victory with rowing partner Imogen Grant after the pair won gold in Paris

Even while training, Emily did work experience "here and there", and her first job since retirement was photographing coins.

Now at Darnley Fine Art, she said: "I know there's a lot I don't know, and I very much came to this role willing to learn and to see where it takes me."

Though she has no regrets, searching for an entry-level job in her 30s has not always been easy, even for an Olympic Champion.

She added: "There's definitely been points in the job search when things weren't quite going so well.

"I wondered if anyone was ever going to see me as anything other than an athlete.

"In general though I've put the work into planning retirement and it's paid off, and I'd very much encourage other athletes that there is a life beyond sport."

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