I won Team GB’s first gold medal at the 2012 Olympics… now I’m an Army Major

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DOUBLE Olympic champion Major Heather Stanning OBE immediately returned to her career in the British Armed Forces after 2016.

Stanning, 39, made history by claiming Team GB’s first gold medal in the coxless pair at London 2012.

Heather Stanning’s victory in 2012 paved the way for Team GB’s historic gold medal countCredit: Instagram / @heathermstanning

Major Stanning and Helen Glover won back-to-back gold medals in 2012 and 2016Credit: Bradley Ormesher – The Times

Together with her rowing partner Helen Glover, they became the first British female rowers to win an Olympic crown.

But before that, Stanning was appointed to the Royal Artillery from Sandhurst in 2008, where she held the rank of captain.

The two-time champion took up rowing in 2006 and was selected for Team GB’s ‘Start’ programme.

Four years later, in 2010, Stanning was granted a leave of absence from the Army to train for the 2012 Olympics.

In 2011, she and Glover finished second at the World Rowing Championships, 0.1 second behind New Zealand.

But in 2012, the pair completed all three events in the rudderless women’s pair of the World Rowing Cup.

They then opened the scoring for Great Britain’s historic 29 gold medals won at London 2012.

It was the first ever Olympic gold medal for British women’s rowing – a sport that Team GB dominated at the subsequent 2016 Games in Rio.

The Ministry of Defense produced a photo of soldiers looking at the directionless pairs of women from AfghanistanCredit: PA:Press Association

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After the race, the BBC played a message for Stanning from her regiment, which was deployed to Afghanistan.

Colonel Roddy Lee said: “We are extremely proud of Captain Stanning. She is a credit to the Royal Regiment of Artillery, to the Army and to the nation.”

A month later, Stanning reported back to her garrison and resumed her army career, where she was posted to the Middle East.

She was promoted to major in December 2015 and resumed work full-time in the Army from 2017 before entering the Staff College in September 2017.

Meanwhile, Stanning and Glover continued to compete with Team GB rowing and retained their Olympic crown in 2016.

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Stanning announced her retirement from the sport in November 2016 to return to the Royal Artillery, while Glover is targeting her fourth Olympic Games in Paris 2024.

Stanning is now ready for her next challenge.

She is about to take part in the Marathon des Sables, an extraordinary race of 250 kilometers over six days, which has been taking place in the southern Moroccan Sahara since 1986.

Stanning’s team includes three other British army personnel and TV personality judge Robert Rinder.