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Read MoreSome Of The Greatest British Olympians And Paralympians
The country has been swept up by the Olympics this weekend. After an opening ceremony that grabbed the attention of the world, the events are well underway.
We’ve put together a quick list of some of the most successful and inspiring people from the British Olympic and Paralympic teams of the past. Some you’ll have heard of, but some you might not…
British Paralympians
Mike Kenny is a Paralympic swimmer who has won an impressive 16 Paralympic gold medals and 2 silver medals at the games. He started swimming as a form of therapy but soon found that swimming was something he was clearly pretty good at. He went on to compete in several Paralympics for Great Britain and is the most successful British paralympian ever.
Dame Tanni Gre-Thompson is the most successful female paralympian that Britain has ever produced. She has won 11 Paralympic gold medals, 4 silver medals and 1 bronze in wheelchair racing. She has also found a career as a presenter and politician to add to her list of achievements.
Much like Mike Kenny, David Roberts was encouraged to try swimming as a form of therapy after being diagnosed with cerebral palsy at the age of 11. He went on to become a paralympic swimmer and has won 11 Paralympic gold medals, 3 silver, and 1 bronze.
Watch this video from the London 2012 team to see Tanni along with many other Paralympic greats.
British Olympians
In a string of victories, Sir Steve Redgrave became the most successful British Olympian ever by winning gold medals at 5 consecutive olympics. Considering these rowing events were 4 years apart each time, you’ll have to agree that is an impressive feat! Sir Steve was also the final person to carry the Olympic torch, picking it up from a speedboat on the Thames and running it into the stadium at the opening ceremony. The torch was then handed on to a group of young athletes nominated by some Olympic legends to light the cauldron.
One of Sir Steve’s team-mates, Matthew Pinsent, accomplished a similar feat by taking 4 Olympic gold medals at 4 consecutive olympics in the rowing.
Paulo Radmilovic was a British Water Polo and Swimming olympic champion. Between 1908 and 1920 Paulo won 4 Olympic gold medals, and managed to win his golds across two different sports in the process. A strange story surrounds his final gold medal at the 1920 Olympics. When the British team beat the Belgian team in an extremely close match the Belgian spectators tried to attack the gold medal-winning British team and armed police had to guard them as they got out of the pool to safety.
Here’s Sir Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.
There have, of course, been plenty of other medalists from the Great Britain team over the years in a variety of sports. Too many to mention here! So who is your favourite Olympic athlete? Let us know!
And you can also let us know what your favourite event of the Olympics has been so far here.
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