Greater Manchester olympians won 16 medals for Team GB at the Tokyo Olympics

Greater Manchester athletes won an astonishing sixteen Olympic medals for Team GB at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

This year’s delayed Olympic Games concluded last night, with Team GB bringing home an admirable sixty-five medals, ultimately placing them in fourth place just behind Japan, China and the US. 

And, incredibly, athletes from Greater Manchester played a huge role in our country’s success at the massive sporting event – so much so that, if Greater Manchester had competed as a team in the Olympics, we would have ranked eleventh in the medal table ahead of countries such as Brazil, Canada and Jamaica. Yep, we’re that good.

Let’s meet our champions…

James Guy

@james.g.guy / Instagram

Swimmer James Guy, from Bury, won three medals for Team GB: Gold in the mens 4x200m swimming relay, gold in the mixed medley swimming relay and silver in the 4x100m medley swimming relay. 

On his incredible achievement, Guy wrote on social media: “Olympic Champion! Something I thought I would never say.

“All the hard years of work and starting from the bottom as a junior to not having the Olympics I wanted in 2016. But we never gave up. We did it! Dreams do come true. We reset and we go again!”

Charlotte Worthington

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Manc born BMX rider Charlotte Worthington did the city proud when she recovered from a fall and ultimately won gold in the women’s BMX park freestyle.

On her motivation to win gold, Worthington said: “I think it’s been gold medal or nothing this whole journey. I think as soon as we set the goal of gold medal, it was go big or go home.

“I’ve learned that if you gamble and you give yourself that chance, it’s going to pay off better and going to feel better than if you hold off and think what could have been.”

Georgia Taylor-Brown

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Georgia Taylor-Brown, from Manchester, won gold in the mixed triathlon relay and even overcame a tyre puncture to win silver in the women’s triathlon. 

Speaking of the high and lows of winning her medals, the twenty-seven-year-old cyclist told Sky News: “As a kid I always wanted one of these medals. I just wanted to be an Olympian.

“But then you think ‘that’s a dream I had as a ten-year-old. I’m twenty-seven, is it ever going to become a reality?’ And yeah this morning it did.”

Stuart Bithell

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Stuart Bithell, from Rochdale, won gold in the men’s sailing 49’er class. Speaking of his achievement, he told the Dorset Echo: “I think the exact moment [we knew we were going to win] was the very last gybe at the end.

“They gybe and we gybed almost simultaneously, and I could just see the bow coming up and we were on a little bit of a wave and just got a little bit of surge and I thought, that’s the one.

“This is my last Olympics, almost certainly. As you can image it’s so nice to go away with the gold.”

Matt Walls

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Matt Walls, from Oldham, won gold in the men’s omnium cycling and silver in the men’s madison cycling. 

On his accomplishment, twenty-three-year-old Walls said: “There was a bit of an unknown because the last track race I did was the Euros last year. But I’ve been going well on the road, getting in some quality racing this year, so I knew I was good coming in.

“I just didn’t know how it would translate on the track, how the tactics would be, because it had been so long. But I came into the scratch race feeling good, came away with that win and then I knew I’d got a chance as long as I played it smart. I knew I’d got the legs so it could work out and it did.”

Laura Kenny

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Harlow-born Laura Kenny snatched gold in the women’s madison cycling and silver in the women’s team pursuit cycling.

Posting onto social media following her win with teammate Katie Archibald, Kenny wrote: “I’m not even sure what to say. We worked so hard back in Manchester, gelling as a pairing. I have never felt so ready for a race.

“I felt so unbelievably nervous at the start and all I kept saying to myself was your with @_katiearchibald just listen to her, you trust what she says!

“Turns out we didn’t need to say very much at all. We knew where each other wanted to be and we stuck to our plan. I am so so proud of us and everyone behind the scenes helping us achieve this gold medal.”

Jason Kenny

@therealjasonkenny / Instagram

Jason Kenny, from Bolton, won gold in the men’s keirin cycling and silver in the men’s team sprint cycling – overall, he scooped seven medals. 

Kenny said, as per the BBC: “Seven gold medals is really special. When you look back on the ones you have already got, it seems pretty easy. Then when you try and get more, you remember how hard it is.”

On his future, he added: “Before today I had all but given up, I was counting my career in days and races as opposed to years, but maybe I have bought myself more time now.”

Keely Hodgkinson

@keely.hodgkinson / Instagram

Wigan’s very own Keely Hodgkinson, nineteen, brought home silver in the women’s 800m. 

The young athlete was sponsored by Liverpool-born millionaire Barrie Wells, who hailed her accomplishment as ‘incredible.’ He told ITV News: “I never expected her to win it, but I thought she could get second or third because she’s just fearless and she’s got great finishing speed.

“She finishes faster than anyone in the world. Incredible achievement.”

Josh Bugajski

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Stockport’s Joshua Bugajski won bronze in the men’s eight rowing.

Bugajski, who has an unusual background in rowing having grown up in a deprived part of Stockport, gained viral fame for his scathing comments on his coach, Jurgen Grobler’s methods.

“I’m going to be brave and say something the crew don’t want me to say. I popped a bottle of champagne when Jurgen retired. I had three very dark years under him, I’d be coward not to say on behalf of the guys who are back home and didn’t make it onto the team and that got the darker side of Jurgen.

“It’s the end of an era for British rowing but it’s the start of a much better era. We’ve had six boats come fourth, on the cusp of a medal, and we’ve had two medals. Come Paris we’ve got a lot of potential but we need to be honest about where it went wrong.”