All of which probably helped the British Olympic Association (BOA) realise that appointing Winckless as chair of the newly formed Athlete Commission gave them a sizeable asset. Oh and the not inconsiderable fact that she won a bronze medal in the double sculls at Athens in 2004 with  Elise Laverick and is a double world champion, from 2005 and 2006, in the women's quad.

Winckless's affability, and charm may, in part, come from the extraordinary challenges faced as a young adult and athlete and the way she handled them. One senses, once her story unfolds, there aren't many fears she hasn't already faced up to.

Few of us grow up to watch those we love, in this case Winckless's mother, Val, stumble awkwardly down the garden path or slur their words in the middle of a summer's day.   And all embarrassingly played out in full view of twittering neighbours and twitching curtains.

"As a family we had to deal with what people thought," says Winckless. "And sometimes they thought she was drunk."

In 1996 after nearly seven years of unpredictable behaviour Winckless finally found out why. Then 23, and a recent Cambridge University graduate, she discovered her mother had Huntington's, a disorder of the central nervous system which gradually destroys coordination, speech and movement. 

There was more. Each of Val's four children had a 50:50 chance of inheriting it.

For Winckless it was a bitter-sweet moment. 

"Having a diagnosis was really important," she says. "I suddenly had an understanding about the changes that were going on for her. We hadn't had the easiest relationship. But we made peace when I knew what the cause was."

Faced with such potentially devastating news some might, understandably, have buried their head in the sand preferring not to know on which side of the 50:50 divide they might fall.

But Winckless doesn't really do the head in the sand approach to life so shortly after her mother's diagnosis she decided to see if she had it too.

What, one wonders, must have been going through her mind when she set off to take the test. Or what she felt when she found out she did carry the gene and one day everything she was seeing would become her own reality.

Huntington's has no cure.

If she'd allowed herself a moment's self-pity, a bout of bitterness or anger, few would have begrudged or even judged her.

But that's the thing about Winckless. She's the cup brimming over type and always has been, Huntington's or not.

"It's not something I feel has had a negative influence on my life," she says. "It would be easy to put all my energy into looking into how to fix it but I'm doing so many things and am enjoying my life so much. All of our lives are touched by so many diseases.

"I've always been open about it. 'I won't burden people. It's something that's a part of me, that's all. But It doesn't define me."

Today, 13 years on from when she found out, Winckless, now 36, is at risk from the disease and within the age bracket where symptons might begin to manifest.

"I think the healthier you are the later the disease will come," she says. And while there's no cure new drugs are believed to halt the disease's progression to good effect.

And since she is, still, super fit by ordinary standards she's happy to be a guinea pig and has regular tests to enable scientists to learn as much as they can about any changes that do occur. For now though she continues to astound them with the speed and accuracy of her responses. Today there's no sign of change. For the future there's no knowing.

"They have a predictive programme and I'm happy to be part of it," she says. "If I can help the next generation so much the better."

It's now just over a year since Winckless retired from international competition not because she was worried about the illness manifesting itself. That never crossed her mind.

After rowing in Beijing in the women's eight she wanted a new challenge to sustain her through four more years of gruelling training if she was to contend for a place in London 2012, which would have been her fourth Olympic Games.

Winckless needed something new to drag her out of bed at 6am on cold, dark winter mornings and that was rowing in the single scull which she began to concentrate on in late 2008.

But when Katherine Grainger, the three time Olympic silver medallist, beat Winckless at the British trials in Hazewinkel, Belgium last April, Winckless decided the game was up.

If she couldn't be the best single sculler in the country it was time, after 10 years at the very top, to hang up her blades for good. "It just wasn't enough to go back into a crew boat," she says. "I needed more."

Walking away from anything you've done for so long and with such intensity and success is tough but for Winckless the pain was eased by the knowledge she'd always worked during her competitive career, if only part-time.

And she was excited about what lay ahead.



"There was something in my soul that needed a new challenge," says Winckless (pictuered with Spandu Ballet singer Tony Hadley, left, and Eastenders actor Shane Rithcie, right)

Uppermost in her mind was a desire to take time to try different courses and openings to find what she was good at before choosing a definitive post-racing career path.

She embarked on a leadership course and is about to become an accredited life coach, a journey she's found particularly revealing. "In sport the goals are very clear," she says. "It's the next race!

"But in life it's not always so obvious. People know they are on a journey. They just don't know the destination."

Helping them find it has been hugely rewarding and interesting.

Winckless also signed up to the Dame Kelly Holmes Legacy Trust which uses elite sportsmen and women to help youngsters fulfil their potential in sport, and life. "I like what Kelly is doing," Winckless says, "and I'm so proud to be a part of the group. The kids might be at the start of their journey, whereas the athletes who help out are either at the end or coming to the end of theirs, but we've all got the same hopes and fears."

After trying her hand at coaching, motivating others and speaking at various events the BOA opportunity could not have come at a better moment. "Any earlier and I wouldn't have been ready," she says.

Now Winckless will chair a new Athletes Commission, set up by a changing and evolving BOA. "They needed to step into the modern era," says Winckless. "And they've taken huge strides to do it."

The Commission, which will be comprised of 12 athletes voted by their peers, will be a part of the new changes, ensuring every decision made, from kit to training camps, will have the athlete at the heart of it.

"It's early days," says Winckless who will work for two days a month in her new role. "But I would love the athletes to know this Commission is making a difference. If athletes trust their voice is heard and it matters then I know I will have done my job."

Winckless is in no doubt 'a steep learning curve' lies ahead but then challenges are nothing new here.

And since she's likely to take the same "no stone unturned" attitude she did in her competitive life it looks as if British Rowing's loss will be the gain of British Olympic athletes the country over.

No wonder they're smiling down at Eton Dorney Lake.

Cathy Wood was editor of the Daily Mail Ski Magazine before moving to become ski correspondent on the Daily Mail. She later became travel editor before going freelance. She represented Great Britain at elite level triathlon and writes on travel, skiing and sport.