She is a British Army officer and currently holds the rank of Major, in the Royal Artillery but had been given dispensation from the army to pursue an Olympic career with the British team at both the 2012 Summer Olympics in London and the 2016 Summer Olympics. Paired with Helen Glover in 2012 she won an Olympic gold medal, the first for their country of the 2012 Olympiad and the first ever British Olympic gold medal in women's rowing. She set the world record time in partnership with Helen Glover at the 2014 World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam, and they retained their World title at the 2015 World Rowing Championships in Lac d'Aiguebelette, France. In 2016 they retained their European title at Brandenburg an der Havel, set the World Rowing Cup record time at Poznan and again won gold at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. She announced her retirement from rowing in November 2016.