August 06, 2021
These 5 GB athletes all have 1 trait in common
Football may not have brought us the joy we were hoping for, but wow has the Olympics delivered.
Team GB got off to a flying start in Tokyo winning 5 medals in the first five days. And the female Olympians are paving the way for future generations.
Emily Campbell became the first British female weightlifter to win an olympic medal; Charlotte Worthington became the first woman in the world to successfully land a 360 backflip; Bethany Shriever is the first woman to win a BMX medal for GB; Sky Brown is Britain's youngest summer games medalist and Keely Hodgkinson broke the national record for the 800m, and won GB’s first track medal of Tokyo 2020.
All of these incredible athletes have this one trait in common ; a strong mindset.
Emily Campbell is an inspiration to everyone. 5 years ago she picked up a barbell for the first time and 3 days ago she became an Olympic silver medalist. “I am speechless for the first time ever,” Campbell told the BBC.
To actually perform on the stage after months of rigorous training is difficult, but because of her resilience and strong mindset, Campbell managed to nail it.
Her total of 283kg set a new British and Commonwealth record, and is the first time since 1984 that Great Britain have won an olympic weightlifting medal.
“You can achieve anything you want to achieve,” she told the BBC after her skilled Olympic debut performance. And her message is simple yet powerful; you can be successful and achieve anything you want to by putting your mind to it.
But there is more to Campbell's mission than just achieving a podium position. Her biggest motivation is to prove that women who look like she does can be successful in sport, and wants brands to produce clothing for fuller figures.
5 years ago, Charlotte Worthington was flipping burritos in Manchester, and now she’s backflipping for Olympic gold in Tokyo. The 360 Backflip has never been landed before now in any women's competition, but it seems Charlotte has opened a Pandora’s box as to what is possible for womens BMX.
A score of 97.50 rocketed Worthington into gold medal position, and was the highest score for any BMX freestyle performance, across both the mens and womens competition.
She is now the person to beat. “ If you gamble and give yourself that chance then it can pay off and you’ll feel better than if you held back." These are words to live by, and Charlotte's resilience and mindset is a true inspiration for everyone; to never stop pushing and challenging yourself.
Watching Bethany Shriever’s BMX racing performance was unbelievable. From riding a second hand bike to winning Olympic gold, you could feel the emotion through the screen, as this was the dream she’d had since she was 9 years old.
Being the only female BMX rider in the UK, the pressure was on. But Shriever kept her composure and “gave it everything” she had, so much so that after the race she could hardly walk due to the adrenaline rush.
Shriever's journey to Tokyo 2020 wasn’t an easy one. With UK Sport pulling funding for all female BMX athletes, Bethany had to work part time as a teaching assistant, alongside competing to qualify to cover her costs. But her mindset was always intact.
Her family also gave everything they could to help fund their daughter's dream, and managed to raise £50k through a crowdfunding page. And without this, Bethany wouldn’t have been able to pay for her travel over the past 2 years. When speaking to BBC Sport, her family said that their normal background shows that anyone can dare to dream about the Olympics.
Sky Brown, the youngest ever GB summer games medalist, proves that age truly is just a number. The 13 year old is lucky to be alive after suffering a serious injury last year, which would have resulted in her not competing at all if the Olympics had gone ahead in 2020.
Brown won bronze in the park skateboarding event after landing a perfect routine. The mindset and resilience that Sky had to fall not once, but twice and go again is incredible.
In an interview with BBC Sport she said that she’d never had a coach and learnt everything she knows from YouTube videos. If this isn’t motivation for us all, we don’t know what is!
We can’t wait to see what's next for the young Olympian.
And finally, Keely Hodgkinson, the Leeds Beckett University student that won silver in the 800m, teaches us to never stop believing in yourself.
In 2020, British Athletics announced they weren’t taking on any other athletes due to the pandemic which was a massive blow for Hodgkinson. However her resilience had not gone unnoticed, and the track star got backed by millionaire Barrie Wells, who saw a spark and wanted to see her succeed. And with this belief, Keely broke the national record set by Dame Kelly Holmes in 1995 and picked up her first Olympic medal.
If you haven’t yet watched the Olympics, you’re missing out on seeing what individuals can achieve when they put their mind to it. We don’t think it’s possible to come away from watching the events not feeling motivated! Whatever you’re doing this week, we know with the right mindset and resilience you’ll smash it.