Gangwon 2024 Athlete Role Model Jennifer Dodds: “I just want to see other people succeed”
From supporting the next generation with their mental health to sharing insights from her own Olympic gold medal-winning experience, Jennifer Dodds is embracing her role as an Athlete Role Model at the Gangwon 2024 Winter Youth Olympic Games. In an exclusive interview with the Olympics.com podcast, she reveals all.
“Go out, have fun and enjoy it.”
That’s the message Jennifer Dodds wants to share with all the Gangwon 2024 athletes competing at the Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG) from 19 January to 1 February.
Selected by the World Curling Federation to be an Athlete Role Model for the YOG, Great Britain's Beijing 2022 Olympic champion Dodds will be on the ground throughout the event in the Republic of Korea to impart her knowledge and inspire the next generation.
From advice to support, her role will be wide-ranging, and it’s something she says she can’t wait to get stuck into.
“For me, I just want to see other people succeed and if I can help in any way possible that’s great,” Dodds told the Olympics.com podcast in an exclusive interview on the eve of the Youth Olympics.
“It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity for them and they are fortunate enough to be selected for their country. I think it’s a lot of their first experience maybe competing outside their country so I just want to help them embrace the experience.
**“**I think for these athletes, it's a great thing for their career and the progression because it's the closest thing you'll get to the actual Olympics. So it's a great preparation for them.”
"A lot of people don't see behind the scenes"
Having curled from the age of seven, and now a member of the International Olympic Committee’s Women in Sport High-performance (WISH) program, Dodds knows inside and out what a professional sports career looks and feels like.
Dodds won Beijing 2022 gold as part of Team Muirhead, alongside skip Eve Muirhead, who also holds a role at Gangwon 2024 as the Chef de Mission for Team GB.
Dodds is also a World Mixed Doubles Champion, a gold medallist at the European Curling Championship, and holds four gold medals from the Scottish Women’s and Mixed Doubles Curling Championships, and therefore has an appreciation of what the journey takes to get to the top.
And if those young athletes about to make their Youth Olympic Games debut look to the future and find it overwhelming now, Dodds explains that there are ways to navigate those feelings. That is a perspective she says she wants to offer to those in Gangwon.
“This [Winter Youth Olympics] is a great stepping stone, but I think it is going to be one of many. And I think that's the thing a lot of people don't see behind the scenes. You do get a lot of knocks and you get a lot of highs but it's that small progression that a lot of people don't see behind the scenes - and that is the really important part.
“Going from something like the Youth Olympics to get to the Olympics, it looks like you're going to climb a mountain, but you have to bring it back to the small increments, and that makes that task easier.
"And then you have people that can help you on the way, like your coaches and other support staff and your friends and family. For me, the Athlete Role Model, if I can help that tiny bit on their progression up the mountain since I've been on that route… I would love to do it.”
Jen Dodds posing with her Olympic gold medal from Beijing 2022
"If you feel something, say something"
One area that Dodds is keen to help the younger athletes with is the topic of mental health - something she says she has had to work hard on in the last few years.
“I’ve had mental health struggles over the last four years and that’s how I learned I need to speak about this because if I hold it in, it just becomes like a volcano. And you just build up things, things get built up, built up, built up and then you get to the point of, ‘Oh my God, I can’t cope with this anymore’, and you just kind of implode.
“So I think it is really important, especially in professional sport because you do have so much pressure.”
While she explains that nerves are a positive thing, as they show intent and care, finding strategies to manage and support them is key. Another thing she wants to emphasise to the athletes is always communicating how you feel.
“I would really encourage the athletes going to the Youth Olympics, if something doesn't feel right with you today, don't be scared to say to your coach like, 'I just feel like this today'. And I'm sure they'd be like, 'Okay, how can I help you? Do we need to do anything differently?” It makes them understand you better as well, and they can support you in a better way as well.
‘If you feel something, say something. I think that is so important. I have only learnt that in the last three years and I'm 32 now.”
With the Youth Olympic Games now in full swing and with history being written from Gangneung to Hoengseong, Dodds has one more piece of advice for those in action.
*"*For me, I always find I play my best when I am having fun and enjoying it, so, just go out and enjoy it and embrace the experience.
"It's a multi-sport event. You might not get that until maybe you get to the Olympics so embrace the experience and just enjoy every second of it," she continued.
"You're going to come home with a smile even if you don't get a medal. You've had an amazing experience."
Listen to the full interview with Jennifer Dodds on the official Olympics podcast on all good audio platforms and also on Olympics.com right here.
Watch live sporting action from Gangwon 2024 for free and without subscription on Olympic Channel here.