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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Matt Majendie

Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix: Commonwealth Games medal haul raises hopes and expectations for Paris Olympics

Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix has pledged to come back even stronger next season, after winning three Commonwealth Games medals — including double gold — at Birmingham 2022.

The 17-year-old, who made the British team at the last Olympics but largely went under the radar, rounded off the final day of competition yesterday with gold in the 10metre mixed synchronised platform diving competition alongside Noah Williams.

It added to a gold in the individual event as well as silver in the women’s synchro event to mark her out as a potential star for the next Olympics in Paris.

Spendolini-Sirieix will compete at the upcoming European Championships before drawing a close to an impressive season.

Following her Birmingham heroics, she said: “Now we have got the Europeans, so I will focus on that. After that, I will take a break, have a summer holiday and come back even stronger.”

The Team England athlete was again cheered on from the stands by her father, Fred Sirieix, the star of television series First Dates.

Her medal haul will only ramp up expectation, but she said: “I’m not going to put pressure on myself.

“Whether there is external pressure or not, the internal pressure is the one which makes you crumble. But I’m very excited for the next two years.

Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix won three medals at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham (Getty Images)

“I’m learning about dealing with the pressure in competition. If I can keep the internal pressure under control, that’s good. I’m still learning and I’m going to make mistakes.

“This has given me a lot of confidence but success in competition comes from training hard and working hard.”

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