Olympic gold medallist Anna Watkins: 'My female insecurities cost me gold in Beijing' Women need this injection of self-belief, says a sanguine Watkins. It's a very female trait to feel that you're different, that you can't succeed. Women in particular are very aware of what they're not good at. Don't do what I did in Beijing in 2008 and assume that you can't do it, don't rule out the possibility that you might be able to. Offering a tip for how to deal with negative thoughts or low confidence, Watkins says: "The fact that you're feeling an emotion doesn't mean that you're weak or you're not rational. You can kind of say to yourself, okay I feel like this I accept it, and put it to one side again. I like being able to compartmentalise your thinking and release your emotions in the right environment. Surprisingly, she herself "failed to excel at any sports" as a youngster because being a Long Tall Sally seemed like an inhibitory thing. People had said to me that seeing as I was going to Cambridge that I might as well try rowing as I was tall. But I wasn't always in control of my arms and legs and tripped over myself a lot. Once we started on the rowing machines I realised that I was strong and it was a surprise. I was really deliberate from that point and started knocking on doors and finding out how to ... row in the Olympics. Lessons for the workplace Watkins, a talented motivational speaker, keenly impresses the value of sport and exercise in the workplace. Days after the WST launch at FTSE company Accenture, a report published by Ernst and Young revealed that 90pc of female executives surveyed had played team sports during their career trajectory. Exercise can also overcome some of the natural difficulties that women face. Oestrogen, wonderful as it is in some ways, can be your worse enemy because it can make you feel a certain way, and I think exercise can combat that. "In fact, I'm currently "up to my ears in oestrogen," she says, which, considering Watkins is 6ft 1in, is an alarming amount of pregnancy-hormone meddling with any future career decisions - like whether or not to row in Rio 2016 once she and husband Oliver Watkins, a McLaren Formula One engineer, have welcomed their first baby in September. At the moment my rowing career sits very comfortably with me. It's a neat package and I hadn't set any goals beyond London. I'm not there in my head; I'm not fired up for another Olympic Games, at the moment. And you couldn't train like we trained for London with a baby. We trained three times a day most days and you only take a Sunday off every third week. There were three women in the Australian team at the Olympics who had babies, erm, they didn't win," she rolls with infectious giggles. Another Olympic gold? But in the end, all it will take is a bottle of plonk. I think if we (Watkins' iconic partner Katherine Grainger) did end up competing in Rio in our double it would be because we've talked each other into it. The most likely way of it happening is the two of us sitting down in the autumn with a bottle of wine and reminiscing and getting each other really fired up again. And I do think that we can go quicker, yeah, absolutely. At the same time, I don't want to just try and repeat what I've done; I would want it to be a new challenge. Now, it might be that trying to get another gold medal may be a big enough, erm, challenge, it's a step up from London. But it might be doing a single scull, or it might be doing two events. The single scull, I remind her, could be the most practical option as a new mother, and gives new meaning to the phrase 'baby on board.' Rowing is inflexible because you're in a crew so it would need to be different. From Katherine I have drawn a lot of confidence and a lot of belief. I felt that when I did win trials and when I did beat Katherine, I'd learnt enough to do it on my own. I guess that's the wonderful unknown of sport, I don't know for sure if I could be the whole package but it will be the finding out that will be the exciting part. Kathryn Dobinson is a freelance journalist and can be found tweeting @katedobinson