Olympic swim star Molly Renshaw hails influence of Ripley Rascals

Molly Renshaw (left) says she wouldn't be where she is today without the Ripley Rascals.

Renshaw will compete in her second Olympics when she takes to the pool in Tokyo next week.

But, despite now being on the biggest stage, Renshaw always remains grateful for Ripley and the influence they had in getting her on her way.

“My first coach was Adrienne Ollerenshaw at Ripley,” said Renshaw during an interview with Swim England. “She was a hard-core coach.

“She ingrained it in me from an early age that you have to work hard in this sport as things don’t come easy to you.

“I’m forever grateful that, from a young age, I’ve had such a hard-core coach. I’m used to the hard work and know what kind of work I need to put in to get the results I want.

“They gave me loads of experience on what to expect going forward.

“I learned time management and general life skills from an early age and that has helped me to get where I am today.

“It’s a key life skill to have – swimming saves lives at the end of the day so definitely get involved.

“You make so many friends along the way and so many life skills that will come in handy at a later date.

“It’s a great sport to be involved in and an amazing life skill to have.”

Renshaw goes to Tokyo full of confidence after clinching her maiden individual international title with victory in the 200m Breaststroke at the European Aquatics Championships in Budapest in May.

She beat training partner Abbie Wood to glory in the process.

And it is a rivalry that the Loughborough National Centre swimmer can’t wait to resume.

“Me and Abbie train with each other every day so it’s nice to have that friendly rivalry.

“We are kind of best friends out the pool but she is a rival in the pool – but it’s great to train with her.

“Training has been going really well. We are hoping to go there and go faster than we did at trials and, hopefully, that will put us in a good position in the final and put us on the podium too.

“When we’re training, we’re just thinking about the bigger picture and trying to get as many metres and hard work in as we can.