Scown shows off the silver

Rebecca Scown shows her Rio silver medal to Wanganui Girls College rower Breianna Chapman yesterday.

The smiles of over 50 Whanganui Girls College students lit up when rower Rebecca Scown walked into the AV room with her Rio silver medal yesterday.

Returning to her role as a sports ambassador, the 33-year-old was making her first formal trip back home since she and Oamaru's Genevieve Behrent came from the back of the field to grab the silver medal in the women's coxless pairs final at Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon last month.

Naturally, at the end of her four-year training cycle, Scown has been taking a break from anything rigorous.

"Just been in Cambridge, spending a bit of time relaxing."

Scown was still happy to come meet the WGC students for her 'Road to Rio' presentation, and tell them how the 15-year-old who moved from Taranaki to Whanganui Collegiate and followed her siblings into rowing became a double Olympic medallist.

Interestingly, when Scown was asked what had been the most nerve-wracking part of the journey, it was at last year's national trials - given she and Behrent were not the most likely coxless pair combination to get the spot at that time.

Many youngsters had come up to national level since London 2012 and they all spent the last couple of years competing hard with each other.

"We've got some great athletes, like Kerri Gowler from Whanganui - it's quite challenging to stay ahead all the time," Scown said.

"[Your nervous] once you get overseas and you get in the starting blocks in Rio [but] you know it's a 2km race and you're racing these people you know - it's slightly different."

Naturally for teenage girls, Scown was asked how many famous people she met in Rio.

Because of security concerns, more of the big names stayed in the official Olympic village than usual, so when choosing food from the 700m long dining room buffet, Scown was able to spot Novak Djokovic, Michael Phelps and the Williams sisters - Serena and Venus - just causally eating or walking around.

One revelation Scown could not offer is whether she is now willing to commit to Tokyo 2020, currently wanting to enjoy her first down time in four years before any big decisions.

"I'm just going to have a holiday."