World champion Holly Nixon says that family, close friends and everybody involved in Portora Boat Club all own a part of the gold medal she earned as she became the first Fermanagh person to secure a senior world rowing title.
Holly was part of the victorious GB Women’s Coxless Four team that powered their way to an impressive win, beating a fancied American crew by five seconds in the World Championship in Rotterdam on Saturday, and the Enniskillen woman was quick to thank all those who have helped her get to this point.
“I was saying the other day that everybody back home has played a part. As we say in rowing, ‘a happy rower is a fast rower’ and I couldn’t have asked anymore from Portora Boat Club who for the first seven years of my career gave me the best opportunity and the best chance. I didn’t know at that point that I was going to go international but Derek (Holland, coach at Portora Boat Club) could not have done a better job at pushing me in the right direction.
“Then there is my close family; my parents, my aunts and uncles, they are all incredible and for the highs and lows they are always there and always supporting me whether it is a gold medal or last place. They really keep me going and without that I don’t think I would get to the start line. I can’t express enough that they have all played a part and part of that medal is theirs, especially mum and dad,” she said.
Winning a world title is a massive achievement but it is made all the more impressive by the fact that it came in a new discipline for Holly.
She was recently moved into a sweep team from her more familiar sculling but she made the switch effortlessly to go on and claim that precious gold medal.
“I would never have thought even a month ago that I would become a world champion in a sweep boat, particularly as the side I was rowing on was the shoulder I injured a few years ago. I wasn’t even sure when I started the project that I’d finish it because I had joined it on the condition that if my shoulder started to hurt I’d have to quit. I was very surprised with how it has gone but I have learnt a lot about myself. It proved to me that I can row bow-side again and that was a real bonus and it made it more special because it showed that the injury wasn’t going to hold me back any more and for me that was probably one of the biggest things to come out it,” she said.
The crew of Fiona Gammond, Donna Etiebet, Holly Norton and Nixon qualified for the final with a win over Germany in their heat and Holly feels that the fact that they didn’t have to take part in the repechage was a major factor in their performance on Saturday.
“We had the five days between the heats and the final and that is something that I never had before and actually that is a real benefit to the crew because we could actually push on for those five days and we learned quite a lot which gave us an even better chance in the final,” said Holly.
It was the American’s, who have dominated Women’s Sweep rowing, who went into the final as favourites and Nixon admits that she did not expect the race to go as well as it did with GB pulling away over the second half of the race to leave clear water between the crews at the finish.
“To be honest, I was pleasantly surprised, I was not expecting that at all. We had talked about winning before we went out but never in a million years did we think it was going to be by that much. We had talked about how in the middle of the race we would have to be brave and dig in and if we could hang in with the Americans then maybe in the last 500 we would out-sprint them. That’s what we had prepared ourselves for, a real fight to the line,” she revealed.
The Rio Olympics have only just finished but for Holly, the work to make it to Tokyo in four years time has already begun.
“Some people might see Rio finishing as the end but actually for myself and the U23s who were at the Worlds, this is actually the beginning. A couple of my close friends won an U23 Double title and I won mine so we were saying to each other that this is beginning of Tokyo for us. 
“As always, every athletes dream is the Olympics. I don’t know what life is going to hold along the way, there might be an injury or illness and it is a lot of hard work and discipline but I do love it,” she added.
Whether she will continue in sweep or go back to scull is something that Holly will take time to consider.
“I think it is definitely nice to have this result to my name for the future but I do love the sculling as well so I’m going to have to have a little think for a few weeks to decide.”
That though is all for the future, for now Holly feels it is important to enjoy the fact that she is a world champion.
“The most important thing that I can do is just enjoy the fact that I’ve become a world champion because that can go and I might not win it again. A lot of people have been saying to me to just live right here, right now in the moment and try not to worry too much about the start of the next cycle,” she explained.
Indeed, the new world champion is due home for a break tomorrow (Friday) and she expects that what she has achieved will properly sink in then.
“It still hasn’t really sunk in yet if I’m completely honest but I think it will be nice to get back to Fermanagh as all my close friends and family are really supportive and I’m sure it will sink in then,” she concluded.