One of Alex Yee’s school coaches has described how she felt humbled watching the athlete’s “mindblowing” sprint finish to claim gold in the men’s triathlon at the Paris Olympics.
Yee’s former classmates and teachers at Kingsdale Foundation School in West Dulwich have all shared how proud they are of the Lewisham triathlete as a surprise late surge saw him cross the finish line first on the Pont Alexandre III on Wednesday.
The school’s director of sport Vanessa Turner told the Standard: “The whole school has been watching it’s just phenomenal, we’re just so proud.
“This is a once in a lifetime. We feel very privileged to know Alex and to follow his career has been incredible.”
Reflecting on the race’s dramatic finish, which saw Yee make up a 14-second gap on the leader New Zealand’s Hayden White before making a huge break for gold, she said: “A couple of seconds or a second is a big thing to make up.
“To make up on that amount of distance and then to keep going and lead by that distance is just mindblowing.
“(We felt) humbled to be able to witness something like that and realise we know such an amazing athlete.”
Ms Turner recalled the moment she first met Yee when he was in primary school and signed up for a sports scholarship assessment.
She explained that it was clear at that stage how talented he was when he outpaced a PE teacher during a bleep test.
She said: “We used to do it so that the staff would pace the children all the way through - until we met Alex.
“He just kept running and running and running and outpaced the member of staff running with him.”
Yee, now 26, “put the school on the map” competing in a range of athletics and cross-country competitions, as well as representing the school in badminton.
Recalling his time at the school, between 2009 and 2017, Ms Turner added: “Alex has always been and continues to be an amazing role model for other young athletes and students. I don’t believe he was ever naughty. He was quiet, he was polite.
“He is so calm, measured, in control of himself.
“I never saw him get angry or anything like that. He is just a really lovely guy and there is a really lovely family behind him who were really supportive and 100 per cent involved in everything he was doing.”
New posters will now be put up around the school to celebrate the Olympian’s success and Yee’s former classmates have been getting in touch to tell the school they are thrilled with the result.
Acting operational headteacher Andrew Sear told the Standard: “What has been lovely is we have had lots of ex-students messaging the school talking about how proud they are to have known him.
“Everyone is extremely proud to have that association with him. It inspires the next generation of sports scholars and non-scholars to succeed as they can see that they can do it with hard work and determination.”
Reflecting on what Yee was like at school he added: “What you see with him is what you get. He is a lovely guy. He was a fantastic student, a really nice student and it looks like he has developed into a really lovely young man.”
Mr Sear added that the school plans to reach out to Yee, when he is a little less busy, to meet students and visit his old teachers.
But for now the triathlete’s attention will turn to to trying to defend his mixed relay title in Paris on Monday.
