I won Olympic gold – every athlete I know has to do other work to make ends meet

Greg Rutherford is a throwback to a bygone era of Britishness, pre-Brexit and Prime Minister Borisand Braverman, a world of gold postboxes and Olly Murs. And at 37, with three kids, a whippet puppy called Clunkers and a Momfluencer wife with 126,000 Instagram followers, he’s now living the archetypal Team GB gold medallist’s retirement.

Rutherford’s role in London 2012’s Super Saturday, winning the long jump while Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill and Sir Mo Farah also took gold across 46 miraculous minutes, made him a national icon. He remains Britain’s greatest long jumper, but that accolade has not delivered lifelong riches.

“There’s not an athlete I know that doesn’t still work,” he tells i. “It’s not like football. Of course you hope by doing well it will give you financial stability, but for me I did sport for the love of it. Fundamentally, I hope it gets better.”