'ARE you Janet?" asked the tall, slim young woman who had just come through the doorway of Richmond Town Hall. She looked decidedly unlike most of the clientele at town hall fundraising coffee mornings. This one was being held in aid of Richmondshire Choral Society.

"I'm Alison," she said. "Mum said you'd like a chat with me."

Mum is Dr Margaret Mowbray, a fellow member of the choral society, who had been in a few minutes previously with her contribution for the cake stall, before hurrying off to another appointment.

I'd like a chat? Would I ever.

This was Alison Mowbray, who won silver in the women's quadruple sculls at the Athens Olympics, and it was the first time I'd knowingly met an Olympic medallist. Of course I'd like a chat - but just now I was manning a cake stall.

Nothing daunted, I got out my notebook and, between selling cakes, explaining to potential buyers what was in the various plastic bags and which jars held jam and which chutney, Miss Mowbray and I talked about how she came to be a rowing champion and what it was like at the Olympics.

I began, of course, by congratulating her and remarking what a pity it was that I didn't have my camera but, in any case, it was unlikely that she had her medal with her.

"Yes I do," she replied, and pulled a soft fabric pouch from out of her handbag. She then tipped out the thick, silver medal with its long multi-coloured ribbon and symbolically cast face and showed it to me. It was smaller than I had expected and made in a matt, rather than shiny, silver finish. As I was admiring it, someone came up to ask about cakes and the medal went back into hiding.

I was curious to know why Miss Mowbray had taken up rowing in the first place, as the local becks and rivers are not conducive to this activity.

She told me she had gone to Liverpool University to read microbiology. While there, she had decided to take up something sporty both to keep fit and for the social aspect.

"Someone recommended that I try rowing, as I'm so tall," she said. "It's a definite advantage in rowing."

Having tried it, she decided she liked it and it became a real passion.

After Liverpool, Miss Mowbray had moved to Bedford where she worked for Unilever and joined Bedford Rowing Club. That was merely to fill in a year before going on to Cambridge, where she did a doctorate in molecular biology and, of course, continued rowing.

She was by now developing what amounted to a rowing career parallel to her scientific work, and she took part in the women's boat race as a member of the Cambridge crew.

From Cambridge, she moved on to London to do teacher training and rowed at Putney. In 1998, she was selected for the Great Britain team for the world championships.

Miss Mowbray was aged 27 when she was first selected for Team GB to race in the single sculls in Canada. In 2000, she qualified for the Sydney Olympics, again rowing single scull, and came tenth.

It was at this point that she set her sights on Athens and winning an Olympic medal, so she decided to concentrate on the quadruple rather than single sculls. Over the next four years, she raced with several different people and was the only one who was in the foursome throughout. She raced for Great Britain in the world championships in Lucerne in 2001, in Munich in 2002 and in Milan in 2003, where the quartet were narrowly beaten into fourth place. Every year she had to take part in the trials to retain her place.

In the final year leading up to Athens, she decided to leave her teaching job and concentrate purely on her rowing.

The GB quadruple sculls team was selected in April, made up of the four fastest rowers in the single sculls trials. Her Olympic team mates were Frances Houghton, Rebecca Romero and Debbie Flood.

They began by taking part in the world cup series, winning the series. They have individual medals and a team trophy from there.

After Lucerne, there was a pre-Olympic training camp in Germany for three weeks, followed by three days at home.

"Just long enough to wash a new supply of clean clothes," said Miss Mowbray. Then it was off to Varese in northern Italy for ten days' training on the lake there. From there, the team moved straight on to Athens, arriving four days before the games started.

The Olympic village, Miss Mowbray told me, was about two hours' drive from the regatta course. Because of this, all the rowers had been put up in a hotel nearby. They kept up with events on television and the British Olympic organisers also put a nutritionist into the kitchens to ensure that the rowers' diets were properly catered for.

The regatta course was superb with a 2km lake for the races, plus a warm-up lake nearby. The whole facility was located in the mountains, where the scenery was wonderful. The only drawback was that sometimes it could be very windy, and one day the rowing had had to be cancelled as a result.

Miss Mowbray and her team had not gone to the opening ceremony. Not only was it a long way from their camp, but these events tended to go on late into the night and they could not afford to get tired. They made up for it by wearing their opening ceremony kit in the hotel.

There were also formal GB Olympic team suits which they wore to the reception at the British Embassy.

"That was really good," said Miss Mowbray. "Princess Anne was there. She's very keen on the Olympics as she's been in the games herself. I also met Brendan Foster and Sue Barker there."

Foster, it transpired, was a childhood hero of Miss Mowbray's and she told me that as a schoolgirl she used to travel to Gateshead stadium to watch him run.

Miss Mowbray and her team had rowed their first heat on the first Sunday and then in the final on the following Sunday.

I asked if she felt Paula Radcliffe's marathon attempt had overshadowed their success, but she said it had not come across like that out in Athens. Radcliffe was a big star and her difficulties were obviously going to make the headlines, but Miss Mowbray felt they had been recognised for their achievement.

So what now?

She has retired from competitive rowing, but she has her own boat and will continue to row for pleasure.

She said: "I'm sure I'll miss rowing and I can't imagine anything that will replace the time I've had in the sport, but there are other things I want to do.

"I'm a science teacher by profession and am looking forward to getting back into the classroom."

She was so unassuming yet also, from what she'd told me, determined and single-minded about winning that medal at Athens.

What a pity we hadn't had longer to talk. But she had a long journey ahead of her and novices to teach to row at the end of it. And I had someone else wanting to buy some scones.

Ah, well - back to reality.