Dame Diana Ellis tells skysports.com about her 52-year stint at the height of women's sport

Dame Diana Ellis speaks to skysports.com on devoting 52 years of her life to rowing and how life has changed drastically for women in the sport.

From messing about in boats aged 15 to being chairman of British Rowing and now vice-president of the Sport and Recreation Alliance, Ellis hails the London 2012 Olympics as the highlight of her lengthy career at the height of women's sport. "It all started messing about in boats at 15. I would say it starts at having fun. I did sailing, I did canoeing, rowing, all the water sports. In fact I belonged to an athletics club but was told I was too small. I then moved to rowing. The rest is history. "The Olympics, well it was the highlight of my life!" At the London 2012 Games Team GB's rowers won an incredible nine medals, four gold, two silver and three bronze, with GB finishing as top rowing nation for the second successive Olympics. And Ellis, who was on the London 2012 bid team, believes much of the team's success is down to lottery funding. "Lottery made a huge difference," she said. "We were able to direct the money in the right place. Without the lottery money we would not have the successful set-up we have today." Watch Sportswomen every Tuesday on Sky Sports News from 10.30am, with repeats at 7pm on Sky Sports 1 and 10pm on Sky Sports 4.