(Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)
The Olympics may be over, but this lawyer’s journey to the games will live on forever.
Rose Harvey, 31, represented Team Great Britain as a marathoner, and she took a rather circuitous route to get there.
Just a few short years ago, Harvey worked as a corporate lawyer at Pinsent Masons, but at the start of the pandemic, she was “made redundant” (i.e., laid off). Shortly thereafter, her penchant for jogging to and from the office became much more than a hobby — it became her career. The Times has additional information:
Redundancy eventually came as a relief for Harvey because she realised she risked “burning out” with the intense dedication to her work. “I had three months’ gardening leave, which sounds nice except it was at the start of lockdown when we couldn’t do anything fun,” she said. “I decided I needed a really good lockdown project.”
She began training for a triathlon and continued even when the race was cancelled because of the pandemic. “I saw some really quick progress and got addicted,” said Harvey. “I realised I didn’t want to go back to working all hours in the office and I needed something else in my life.”
Harvey continued her training, and in 2022, she gained sponsorship from Puma thanks to her great running skill. The next year, in 2023, she became the fifth fastest British female marathon runner of all time after finishing the Chicago Marathon with a time of 2:23:21. Her time qualified her for the Olympics, and this past April, she was selected to represent her country as a member of their team.
“I was nowhere near contemplating that I could go to the next Olympics,” Harvey told The Times. “I still kind of felt very new in the sport. It’s pretty ruthless as you’re only as good as your last race.”
Harvey describes her race to Paris 2024 as a “very, very fun journey.” She finished the Olympic marathon in 78th place overall, and second place for Team GB’s women marathoners. Congratulations!
Rose Harvey: from City lawyer to Olympian in four years [The Times]
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on X/Twitter and Threads or connect with her on
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