The Lewisham boy going for gold in the men’s triathlon. The Kent teenager set to become Team GB's first-ever Black female indoor swimmer. The Cornish prodigy joining fellow teen Sky Brown on the British skateboarding team.
These are just some of the new Team GB athletes set to join the likes of Andy Murray, Dina Asher-Smith and Tom Daley at this summer’s Olympics, set to kick off in Paris on July 26. The biggest names in sport will be descending upon the French capital to see their name go down in history among the greats like Mo Farah, Kelly Holmes, Chris Hoy and Laura Kenny — and there are lots of fresh faces to look out for.
“I believe we will have one of our biggest medal hauls in our history of the Olympics,” British rower and five-time Olympic gold medallist Steve Redgrave told The Standard this week. “I predict that both track cycling and rowing will win lots of medals in Paris.”So who’s going for gold in Redgrave’s sports to watch? Who are the key new players to look out for? And which famous faces are making a big return? From new kids on the Olympic block to the A-list veterans making a comeback, here’s who to add to your watch list.
Triathlon: Alex Yee
Age: 26
Home town: Lewisham, south London
Olympic appearances: 1 (Tokyo 2020)
Olympic Medals: 1 Gold, 1 Silver
Need to know: Yee burst onto the scene after a double Olympic medal win in Tokyo. Those medals were a long time in the making, with the triathlete having won several international triathlon competitions over the past few years. It almost wasn’t to be, as a week before sitting his A-levels, in 2017, Yee collided with a concrete bollard in his first World Cup race, suffering broken ribs, vertebrae and a collapsed lung. He’ll be returning to the Olympics in the hopes of clinching the title in the Men’s Triathlon.
Women’s Marathon: Charlotte Purdue
Age: 33
Home town: Windsor, Berkshire
Olympic appearances: 0
Olympic Medals: 0
Need to know: Purdue has dominated the elite women’s field in marathon running and cemented her place as third on the British all-time list after running 2:23.26 at the 2021 London Marathon. After failing to qualify for London 2012, Purdue’s Olympic debut is years in the making. When she’s not pounding the pavements of Teddington and Windsor, she jets off to Australia for the winter months to avoid England’s chilly climate.
Swimming:
Eva Okaro
Age: 17
Home town: Sevenoaks, Kent
Olympic appearances: 0
Olympic Medals: 0
Need to know: Okaro will be making history at the 2024 Olympic Games as Team GB's first-ever Black female swimmer in the pool. She was scouted by Mel Marshall, mentor to Adam Peaty, when she was only 14 and now the exciting young athlete will be competing as part of Team GB women's 4x100m freestyle relay.
Adam Peaty
Age: 29
Home town: Uttoxeter, Staffordshire
Olympic appearances: 2 (Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020)
Olympic Medals: 3 Gold, 2 Silver
Need to know: Record-breaking swimmer Peaty is one of Steve Redgrave’s top three athletes to watch. “[Adam Peaty is] always one of our best hopes, and although he stepped back from the sport for a little while, I believe he is one to watch and can take gold again proving he is our best Olympic swimmer ever,” Redgrave, who supports The National Lottery, told The Standard.
In an ironic twist of fate, Peaty was afraid of water as a child and wouldn’t even let his parents put him in the bath. It looks like he well and truly got over that phobia.
Matt Richards
Age: 21
Home town: Worcester, West Midlands
Olympic appearances: 1 (Tokyo 2020)
OlympicMedals: 1 Gold
Need to know: Richards won Olympic gold as part of the men’s 4x200m relay in Tokyo and is touted as one of the world’s leading freestyle swimmers. This year, he has hopes of winning multiple medals after winning gold in his signature event at the Aquatics GB Swimming Championships.
Diving: Tom Daley
Age: 30
Home town: Plymouth, Devon
Olympic appearances: 4 (Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020)
Olympic Medals: 1 Gold, 3 Bronze
Need to know: Daley was only 14 when he first competed in the Olympics in 2008, and became the ‘poster boy’ for London 2012. He’s now competed at four Olympic games, and became the nation’s sweetheart when he was captured knitting a Team GB sweater in stands at the last Games in Tokyo. The diver was voted World’s Sexiest Man in 2013 and that same year presented ITV’s celebrity diving show Splash!
Skateboarding:
Sky Brown
Age: 16
Home town: Miyazaki, Japan
Olympic appearances: 1 (Tokyo 2020)
Olympic Medals: 1 Bronze
Need to know: Tokyo 2020 saw the exciting debut of skateboarding as an Olympic sport, and the equally exciting debut of 13-year-old Brown, making her the youngest British Summer Olympian ever. Brown is returning this year with the hopes of winning Olympic gold, having already won gold in the X Games and skateboarding World Championships. She told The Standard in April that one of her biggest motivations is proving her power and style to the boys at the skatepark who question her abilities.
Lola Tambling
Age: 16
Home town: Saltash, Cornwall
Olympic appearances: 0
Olympic Medals: 0
Need to know: Tambling is a teenage skateboarding prodigy who is funded by the National Lottery. She tells The Standard about qualifying for her first Olympic Games: “It feels so unreal, I can't believe it. I have so many emotions about it all but I’m also just so happy and proud of myself with how far I have come and what I have achieved.” Skateboarding glory seems to have always been on the cards for Tambling, whose parents run a skatepark in their hometown of Saltash.
Boxing: Delicious Orie
Age: 27
Home town: Wolverhampton, West Midlands
Olympic appearances: 0
Olympic Medals: 0
Need to know: Originally from Russia with Nigerian heritage, Orie has been compared to Anthony Joshua thanks to his power in the boxing ring. He won gold at the 2023 European Games and is set to dominate at his first Olympics. He told The Standard back in May about his grind to raise enough money to put himself through university, working at both McDonald’s and Sports Direct to save the cash.
Tennis: Andy Murray
Age: 37
Home town: Glasgow
Olympic appearances: 4 (Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020)
Olympic Medals: 2 Gold, 1 Silver
Need to know: Murray had to pull out of Wimbledon this year due to injury, so his appearance in Paris is set to be an exciting comeback. The tennis legend will be making his fifth Olympic Games appearance and holds the record as the only person to have won two Olympic golds in the tennis singles. Among his biggest regrets? Spending too much time on his PlayStation as a youngster instead of soaking up the experience of travelling as a professional athlete.
Gymnastics: Luke Whitehouse
Age: 22
Home town: Halifax, West Yorkshire
Olympic appearances: 0
Olympic Medals: 0
Need to know: Whitehouse made history at a World Challenge Cup event in Croatia last year when he became the first known gymnast in the world to complete a triple-back somersault. He’s definitely one to watch for his Olympic debut, as his astonishing talent is sure to bring plenty of excitement to the competition. He didn’t even let the Covid lockdowns get in the way of his training, with his dad setting up gymnastic rings in a tree in the family’s back garden.
Athletics:
Dina Asher-Smith
Age: 28
Home town: Orpington, Greater London
Olympic appearances: 2 (Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020)
Olympic Medals: 2 Bronze
Need to know: Despite a total of eight golds from World Championships, European Championships and the Commonwealth Games, Olympic gold has so far eluded Dina Asher-Smith. Could this be the year that finally changes? Perhaps parting ways with her coach of nearly 20 years and moving 5,000 miles away to Texas has been the change this athlete needs.
Phoebe Gill
Age: 17
Home town: St Albans, Hertfordshire
Olympic appearances: 0
Olympic Medals: 0
Need to know: Gill captured attention when, in May this year, she clocked the second-fastest under-18 800m time in history. She’s already beaten established athlete Jemma Reekie to secure her spot in Paris and is due to unveil an exciting new kit sponsor before she makes her Olympic debut.
Keely Hodgkinson
Age: 22
Home town: Wigan, Greater Manchester
Olympic appearances: 1 (Tokyo 2020)
Olympic Medals: 1 Silver
Need to know: Hodgkinson brought home a silver medal at the last Olympic Games in style, smashing the British 800m record which had been set by Kelly Holmes in 1995. With her sights set on a gold medal this time, Hodgkinson has said that if she wins, she’ll celebrate by buying herself her dream car: a beige Porsche.
Josh Kerr
Age: 26
Home town: Edinburgh, Scotland
Olympic appearances: 1 (Tokyo 2020)
Olympic Medals: 1 Bronze
Need to know: Scottish 1500m athlete Kerr is already a double World Champion, and is hoping to translate that talent and success into a gold medal in Paris this summer. He was named Scottish Sportsperson of the Year in 2023 and hopes are high that he’ll come away with Olympic gold this time around.
Matthew Hudson-Smith
Age: 29
Home town: Wolverhampton, West Midlands
Olympic appearances: 1 (Rio 2016)
Olympic Medals: 0
Need to know: Hudson-Smith missed the Tokyo Olympics due to injury, but came back to smash the British national record for 400m the following year, proving himself an athlete with huge potential. Although he is now an internationally-recognised professional athlete, his mum still tells him off if he doesn’t clean his room and his friends still see him as the same ‘Matt’. After disappointment at the last two Games, could this be Hudson-Smith’s year?
BMX: Bethany Shriever
Age: 25
Home town: Leytonstone, east London
Olympic appearances: 1 (Tokyo 2020)
Olympic Medals: 1 Gold
Need to know: Bethany Shriever stormed to gold at the last Olympic Games and is a double World Champion. All eyes will be on the BMX circuit this year to see if Shriever can win another gold for Team GB.
Canoe slalom: Joe Clarke
Age: 31
Home town: Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire
Olympic appearances: 1 (Rio 2016)
Olympic Medals: 1 Gold
Need to know: Clarke has an impressive medal collection, with one Olympic gold and five from World Championships. He narrowly missed out on selection for the Tokyo 2020 team, so will be back with even more to prove in Paris.
Modern pentathlon: Joseph Choong
Age: 29
Home town: Orpington, Greater London
Olympic appearances: 2 (Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020)
Olympic Medals: 1 Gold
Need to know: Choong took gold in the modern pentathlon event at the Tokyo Games — the first ever gold for a British man in modern pentathlon. He’ll be defending his title this year against none other than his own brother, who will be competing for Slovakia (his brother’s wife is reportedly Slovakian).
Rowing: Helen Glover
Age: 38
Home town: Truro, Cornwall
Olympic appearances: 3 (London 2012, Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020)
Medals: 2 Gold
Need to know: Glover is one of Team GB’s most decorated athletes, and was ranked the number one female rower in the world in 2015–16. Glover retired after Rio 2016 and had three children, but returned to elite sport for the Tokyo Games and is now eyeing up her third Olympic gold.
