The Cornish athletes at the Paris Olympics
The event in France takes place from 26 July - 11 August
Last updated 26th Jul 2024
The Paris Olympics officially get underway from today and a number of athletes from Cornwall will be hoping to bring home a Gold medal from the games.
The event in France is scheduled to take place from 26 July - 11 August, with Cornwall's Helen Glover and Plymouth's Tom Daley leading Team GB out at the opening ceremony tonight.
Paris has already previously hosted the Summer Olympics, back in 1900 and 1924.
The Cornwall athletes taking part in the Paris Olympics
Helen Glover (Penzance) - Rower
Helen Glover is coming out of retirement to compete at her fourth Olympics as part of the women’s four.
With more than 20 gold medals to her name, she is a two-time Olympic, three-time world and five-time European champion.
After being announced as a flag bearer for Team GB for today's opening ceremony, she described the news as "probably the biggest honour of my life."
"I just love the Olympics and have always loved what it stood for.
"But I still pinch myself that I am an Olympian, let alone doing something that I just saw as going down in history. To be flag bearer for a nation, it's an honour.
"You can work hard to become an Olympian but this is bestowed upon me by somebody else who has seen that hard work. That just means so much."
Molly Caudery (Illogan) - Athletics
Molly Caudery says competing at the Olympics is her "lifelong childhood dream".
The pole vaulter set a new British pole record and won the World Indoor Championships this year.
After picking up a silver medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, she tells Sky Sports News she's ready to go for gold in Paris:
"My world has kind of done a 180. Paris was always on the cards but now I'm going in, in a pretty good position and that's really exciting.
"This is everything I've dreamed of and now I'm just getting to live it. I don't see why there would be any pressure that comes with that.
"Of course there's always going to be media and what people are saying and thinking but at the end of the day I love what I do, I know technically what I need to do and I just try and go into the competitions with that mindset."
Sam Sills (Launceston) - Sailing
Sam Sills is hoping for Olympic success in his debut at Paris 2024.
The windsurfer missed out on selection at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, stepping away from the sport to contribute to reducing its carbon footprint.
Sills has worked on emissions-free electric boats in Norway with ZEM energy and helped develop eco-friendly prototypes in Sweden. The former junior world champion returned to sailing after the Olympic windsurfing equipment changed from RS:X to iQFOiL.
He hit a purple patch in early 2023, winning the prestigious Trofeo Princesa Sofia and going on to qualify his boat for the Games with fifth at August’s World Sailing Championships.
His sister, Saskia, is also a windsurfer and has been part of the British Sailing Team.
Morgan Bolding (Withiel) - Rowing
When double men's eight world champion Morgan Bolding represents his country in Paris this summer, he will arrive in the French capital with a sense of unfinished business.
Raised by his grandparents after being taken into care at the age of six, Bolding has had to overcome challenges in the sport that would have deterred those with less resilience and spirit, but he pulled through thanks to the unwavering support of his family and club coaches and the Withiel man has been determined to repay the faith ever since.
At 16, Bolding moved to Walton Rowing Club, Surrey, competing at the men's eight Junior World Rowing Championships two years later but it was at Oxford Brookes University where his talent would blossom, leading to Morgan's selection for the national team in April 2019 and as a reserve for Tokyo 2020.
After forming part of the first-ever GB Men's eight to complete a season undefeated in 2022 and winning successive World Championships in 2022 and 2023, Bolding will be desperate to add Olympic silverware this summer.
Lola Tambling (Saltash) - Skateboarding
Lola Tambling’s skateboarding journey began when she was seven years old and her parents opened a skatepark in Saltash.
Tambling was crowned British national champion in 2022 and went viral with her reaction to finishing sixth at the 2023 World Championships in Sharjah.
The teenager secured a place at Paris 2024 through consistent performances on the World Skateboarding Tour and the Olympic Qualifier Series.