Hong Kong-raised rower Melanie Wilson gunning for gold for Great Britain at Rio Olympic Games
The former Island School student will compete in the women’s eight at the Olympics where her team will challenge the powerful Americans
Hong Kong-raised rower Melanie Wilson is hoping to end her career by winning gold for Great Britain at the Rio Olympics before she embarks on a new life in the field of medicine.
I’ll be 32 when we compete in Rio and I want a career in medicine. I’ve got a job and start in December so it will be a new career for me
Wilson, who celebrates her 32nd birthday on Saturday, will be part of the British eights team who will try to unseat the powerful Americans in her second and probably final Olympic Games.
When asked if she would retire after the Rio Games, Wilson said: “Yes. I know they say never to say that, just in case, and I love rowing and I’ll be so sad to stop.
“But I’ll be 32 when we compete in Rio and I want a career in medicine. I’ve got a job and start in December so it will be a new career for me.”
Wilson was born in Southampton, England but the family moved to Japan when she was a small child before settling in Hong Kong, where she studied at Peak School and Island School.
She took part in the 2012 London Olympics as part of the British women’s quadruple sculls team as they finished sixth at Eton Dorney Lake.
Wilson qualified as a doctor last year at Imperial College London, sandwiching her five years in medical school with a break to train for the 2012 Olympics.
Watch the women’s eight final from the World Cup III in Poznan, Poland