Becky Wilde: Olympic medallist rower says eating disorder became ‘her normal’

For years Becky Wilde did not think how she was treating her body while living with an eating disorder was anything other than normal.

Now an Olympic medal-winning rower, the former swimmer said a comment over weight gain when she was a teenager was behind a change in her performance, which played a major role in triggering the condition.

For years Wilde hid her struggles from coaches, parents and friends before seeking help.

“It probably took a few years to realise what I was doing to myself,” Wilde told BBC Radio Somerset.

“[It] wasn’t OK, was not healthy. It took me a long time to accept that fully, probably six years into it that I really realised it but then still didn’t ask for help.

“It was just part of the habits that I’d developed – to me it was my normal for a really long time.”

Wilde, from Taunton, Somerset, began swimming as a child and went on to represent Wales, qualifying through her Welsh mother.

But the Olympics was always her ultimate dream and after starting university in Bath she took up rowing through a talent-spotting scheme.

In 2024 Wilde won bronze at the Paris Olympic Games as part of the women’s double skulls alongside Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne, while she also clinched gold at the European Championships in the quadruple sculls and silver in the same event at the World Championships last year.

But the now 27-year-old described swimming as “my whole life for a really long time”.

“It’s one of those sports that you have to give your whole life to from a really young age and I guess I was training almost like an elite athlete from the age of 11, 12 onwards. When you dedicate so much of your life to that it’s hard to not be consumed by it,” she said.

It was not until she was in her late teens that unhealthy habits took over.

“The main trigger for me was being told I’d put on weight and then attributing that to why I swam slower, which wasn’t the reason – there’s a whole host of reasons why you might not be performing at the best,” Wilde added.

“In addition to that, growing up in a time where social media was coming to the fore and we were confronted by so many different ideals about what bodies should look like – I think that also played a part.”