16 golds, 6 silvers and 26 bronze individual medals is the BUCS athletes' haul over the summer in Paris as the latest edition of a memorable Olympics came to a close.
Week 1 of the Games was unforgettable with 15 of our gold medals handed out, check out the full recap of the first week in Paris here.
Week 2 was the week of global bests for our athletes who seemed to break record after record as soon as they stepped out into the limelight. The biggest started with Sophie Capewell (Loughborough) on the track in the Team Pursuit. Alongside her teammates she broke the world record three times in a row and secured gold for Team GB.
The Loughborough athlete’s final time stands at 45.186, capping an unforgettable few days for Capewell. Fellow Team GB cyclist Dan Bigham (Loughborough) picked up a silver medal in team pursuit final after it came down to the wire and just being pipped by Australia.
Over in the boxing ring, Team GB’s final boxer standing Lewis Richardson (Sheffield Hallam) went up against Team Mexico. Win or lose Lewis was guaranteed the medal but he didn’t fight that way coming right out of his corner with a point to prove. Unfortunately the scorecards didn’t go in his favour and the GB boxer lost 3:2 via a split decision but still walked away with a bronze medal around his neck.
Daniel Wiffen (Loughborough) may have already won a gold and a bronze in the pool but apparently wasn’t quite done yet and decide to turn his hand to the Men’s Marathon Swim and trip down the Seine. The team Ireland athlete ultimately came 18th in the race in very difficult conditions, an amazing feat for an event he'd never competed in before. Bath’s Leah Crisp also competed in the Women’s Marathon Swim and placed 20th overall proving the athletes weren’t going to let the current of the river hold them back. Heading back indoors but staying in the water it was Grace Reid’s (Edinburgh) turn to compete on the 3m diving springboard taking a 10th place finish back home with her on her third Olympic outing.
It was the Women’s turn next in the quarter final of the hockey with plenty of BUCS stars on display including captain Holly Pearne-Webb (Sheffield). Unfortunately the women’s side faced the same outcome as the men’s and their Paris dream ended at the hands of the Netherlands in a 3-1 defeat.
Over on the track the records continued, with two British records broken. The first, Georgia Bell (Birmingham) in the 1,500m final breaking the record with a time of 3:52:61 and picking up a bronze medal in the process. Next another Bronze medal and British record fell at the feet of Charlie Dobson (Loughborough) and Alex Haydock-Wilson (Loughborough) in the 4x400m men’s relay. There was another bronze medal in the 4x100m relay for Jeremiah Azu (Cardiff Met) and a massive shout out to marathon runner Emile Cairess (St. Mary's) who placed 4th overall in a time of. 2:07:29
Modern Pentathlon featured a variety of former BUCS athletes too. The most notable was Bath’s Joe Choong who battled his way up from 26th in the standing all the way back up to a 9th placed finish.
The last event for our BUCS athletes was in the weightlifting and it was all eyes on Emily Campbell (Leeds Beckett). Another amazing performance in an Olympic Games saw her battle her way all the way to a bronze medal making it, 2 Olympics, 2 medals.
It may seem like the fun for the summer is all over but in fact we are only half way through with the Paralympics kicking off on August 28. Keep an eye on all of BUCS socials as we continue to track all of our BUCS athletes in action in Paris.
