Tokyo 2020: Lincolnshire's Sam Atkin among Team GB hopes in 10,000m final
The Lincolnshire athlete will represent the UK alongside Marc Scott
Last updated 30th Jul 2021
Lincolnshire distance runner Sam Atkin is among Team GB's medal hopes at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics today, as he prepares to compete in the 10,000m final
The 28 year old, who is 82 in the world rankings, will compete alongside fellow Brit Marc Scott.
The event kicks off at 12:30 our time.
Sam started with Grimsby Harriers athletics club, before moving to Cleethorpes and then Lincoln Wellington. There, he began working with coach Rob Lewis.
In 2011 he went over to the US to study in Idaho, where he was able to continue his career and improve his skills in distance running.
At a track meet in California in 2018 he ran the fourth fastest time by a British athlete over 10,000 metres behind only Mo Farah, Jon Brown and Eamonn Martin.
Sam is self funded and doesn't have a sponsor. When he's not on the track he works part time and while in the US he lives with his coach.
Sister Jen Atkin said: "He's representing Grimsby, he's representing Lincolnshire and he's representing Great Britain"
"He's such an amazing guy, so humble and hard working. Nobody deserves this more than Sam"
"I just can't believe he's made the Olympics... it's absolutely crazy, especially when Mo Farah didn't make it this year"
"He's been running all of his life, for as long as I can remember he'd been running. I think he's been training for this since the age of 11"
"My parents, Helen and Bob, bless them, they've been up and down Britain taking my brother to events since he was 11 years old"
"Credit to mum and dad for doing that... they've literally used every weekend to make sure Sam achieves his dreams".
Gold and Silver for Team GB in the BMX
Beth Shriever and Kye Whyte made BMX history for Great Britain morning as they delivered gold and silver at the Ariake Urban Sports Park.
Moments after Whyte won Britain's first medal in the event since its introduction to the Olympic programme in 2008, taking silver behind Dutchman Niek Kimmann, Shriever led almost from start to finish to claim a superb gold in the women's race.
As the 22-year-old collapsed in tears after the final a jubilant Whyte scooped her up and held her aloft in celebration.
"I'm more happy for her than I am for me," Whyte said afterwards. "That girl puts in some serious serious graft."
Shriever had looked like the class of the field in the semi-finals, winning all three races in her semi-final, and there was no change when it came to the moment that mattered.
Shriever led from the first bend, holding off a late charge from defending champion Mariana Pajon of Colombia down the final straight to win by nine hundredths of a second.
"I'm just in bits," the Londoner said. "I tried my hardest out there today and to be rewarded with a gold medal is honestly mind-blowing. I kept my cool today, kept it simple, and it worked. I'm over the moon. I've done my family and my boyfriend back home proud.
"I don't think it's registering right now what's just happened."
Shriever's gold came just moments after Whyte had broken Britain's BMX medal duck in the men's event.
The 21-year-old from Peckham had shown great pace in qualifying but, as in Thursday's heats, found himself needing to recover from slow starts in all but the final run.
But come the medal race he had no such issues as he made it in to the first corner in second place behind Kimmann.
"With the way I was riding today, I was obviously catching people but I thought I would have to do the same in the final and it's very tiring," Whyte said.
"I just came out of the gate, and I didn't expect it but in the back of my head I kept telling myself I was going to get a medal.
"I didn't deserve it any more than any of the other riders but I put my head to it and I got a medal."
Whyte began his celebrations by a TV screen showing a link to the party taking place at the Peckham BMX Club - the place where his father was a coach, his mother the secretary, and his path to this moment began.