ROAD TO RIO: Kat Copeland happy to blend into the background as she prepares to defend her Olympic rowing title

Copeland will return to international action this weekend when she partners Charlotte Taylor at the European Championships in Brandenburg, Germany, and while the British selectors are still to name their final Olympic squad, the fact the pair have been chosen for the opening event of the season suggests they are extremely likely to team up again at the Games.

Copeland created history when she triumphed with Sophie Hosking at London 2012, with her success making her the first North-East woman ever to win an Olympic gold medal.

However, while her victory established her as one of the region’s greatest ever Olympians, she doesn’t even come close to being the most successful member of Britain’s all-conquering rowing team.

In the likes of four-time Olympic medallist Katherine Grainger, reigning World and Olympic pairs champions Helen Glover and Heather Stanning and double Olympic men’s four champions Pete Reed and Andrew Triggs-Hodge, Britain boast medallists with much more experience and pedigree than Copeland.

That suits the Stokesley 25-year-old down to the ground, and with the start of the Rio Olympics now just three months away, she is hoping to maintain as low a profile as possible as the build-up intensifies.

“I’m not someone who’s particularly happy in the limelight, but luckily I don’t have too much of that,” said Copeland, who rowed with Yarm School and Tees Rowing Club prior to joining Britain’s elite squad. “I’m by no means special within this team.

“I can still blend into the background a bit because I’m around so many fantastic people who have achieved far more amazing things than I ever have. That’s nice because it means I can just focus on getting myself ready for Rio without having to worry about too many outside distractions.

“We’ve got people in the team who are far more accomplished than I am, and they’re used to dealing with all the attention that’s thrown at them. I’m lucky that they take all that attention because I can still slip under the radar a bit.

“Yes, I’m an Olympic champion and I know there’ll be a certain amount of scrutiny that goes with that as the start of the Games gets closer. But it’s not like I’ll be the centre of attention or anything like that, and I think that will be good for me.”

Nevertheless, while Copeland was an unknown quantity prior to the start of the London Games, she will be much more of a marked target in the eyes of her competitors this time around.

Back in 2012, she was catapulted out of the junior ranks straight into Olympic contention, but having opted to remain in rowing after a brief hiatus in the immediate aftermath of her London success, she has spent the last three years gearing up to defend her title.

She faced a major battle just to secure her seat in the boat such was the depth of competition within the female lightweight ranks, and while she claimed a European title and World silver medal alongside Taylor last year, it was only when she produced a strong showing at the recent domestic trials that was she able to breathe more easily.

If last year’s World Championships are anything to go by, the standard of competition in the lightweight double at Rio will be even more intense than at London, but Copeland is hoping the experiences of four years ago will stand her in good stead.

“It’s been a completely different experience this time around,” she said. “Last time, I really just ended up in the boat from a position where I wasn’t even thinking about the Olympics a year or so before the Games started. I hadn’t had a four-year countdown to work around, so I’ve had to get my head around that because it’s a totally different way of thinking.

“Making the team for Europeans was a big thing, because if I hadn’t been selected, I would have been thinking, ‘Well what have I just done this last four years for?’ It would have been soul-destroying not to have made it.

“Now, it’s about focusing on this summer’s racing and doing everything we can to make sure we’re in peak condition for Rio. The Olympics are different to anything else we do – everything is heightened, and the experience of competing is incredible.

“You have to handle that. I think last time, both me and Sophie were probably a bit blasé about the whole thing because just racing at senior level was new to us. Four years on, and I’d like to think I’ve learned a few things that will help this summer.”

The Europeans will be a useful stepping stone on the route to Rio, with Copeland looking forward to testing herself against some of the crews she will encounter again at the Olympics.

“It’s always good to get a gauge of where you are in relation to some of your rivals,” she said. “It can sometimes be a bit misleading because different crews will be at different stages of their preparation, but it’s the first chance to put some of what you’ve been working on in training into a competitive race environment.

“The Worlds last year showed how tough it’s going to be this summer. I’ve never been involved in a tougher race. I was absolutely exhausted at the end of it, but we’re going to have to be even better than those levels in Rio.

“What’s really noticeable is that the depth of competition is so much stronger than it was in London. Four years ago, there were probably only five or six crews that could realistically have won the gold medal. Going off the Worlds last year, this time there’ll probably be ten or 12 in that position so the battle just to make the final will be that much more fierce.”

* Kat Copeland is part of a strong North-East contingent competing in Germany this weekend. Durham’s Jess Eddie and Richmond’s Zoe Lee have been selected in the women’s eight, with Yarm’s Tina Stiller selected in the quadruple scull.

Chester-le-Street’s Will Fletcher is a leading medal contender alongside Richard Chambers in the men’s lightweight double sculls, with Cresswell’s Jamie Kirkwood competing in the non-Olympic lightweight single.