SportsAid's Yorkshire alumni at the London Olympiad
Published on: 26th July 2012
Over 20 SportsAid alumni from Yorkshire have been selected in the Team GB squad for the 2012 Olympic Games. This is an achievement which all SportsAid’s supporters in Yorkshire can be very proud of. The success of these elite athletes is the result of years of preparation and support, SportsAid’s contribution to which cannot be underestimated.
The athletes from Yorkshire with links to SportsAid, who will be representing Great Britain at the Games in a few days time, are:
Jessica Ennis, Athletics, Sheffield
Richard Buck, Athletics, Pickering
Alicia Blagg, Diving, Leeds
Jack Laugher, Diving, Ripon
Hannah Starling, Diving, Leeds
Husayn Rosowsky, Fencing, Sheffield
Barry Middleton, Hockey, Doncaster
Debbie Flood, Rowing, Leeds
Paul Goodison, Sailing, Rotherham (pictured above)
Eleanor Faulkner, Swimming, Sheffield
Jo Jackson, Swimming, Richmond
Joe Roebuck, Swimming, Rotherham
Rebecca Turner, Swimming, Rotherham
Sarah Stevenson, Taekwondo, Doncaster
Alistair Brownlee, Triathlon, Leeds
Jonathan Brownlee, Triathlon, Leeds
Kieran O'Malley, Volleyball, Halifax
Ben Pipes, Volleyball, Hull
Adam Scholefield, Waterpolo, Leeds
Francesca Clayton, Waterpolo, Ripon
Frances Leighton, Waterpolo, Rotherham
Debbie Flood, born in Harrogate but based in Leeds when she was supported by SportsAid in 1997, raced in the women's quad at the Athens Olympics in 2004, where the team qualified for the final and came through the field in great style to win an emphatic Silver medal.
Jessica Ennis, from Sheffield, was supported by SportsAid in 2004 and is now possibly the biggest name in Team GB. She is a former European and World Heptathlon champion and is also the former World Indoor Pentathlon champion. Jessica is the current British record holder for both the Heptathlon and the Indoor Pentathlon
SportsAid also has some very recent recipients in the squads, who may not yet be widely known but who have benefitted directly from SportsAid support in the run up to the Games. These include:
Jack Laugher, from Ripon and funded by SportsAid last year, has rapidly progressed from a promising junior to one of Great Britain's strongest divers. In 2010 he became GB's first World Junior Champion as he scooped the 1m and 3m double in Tucson, Arizona. In 2011, he made the step up to senior competition, impressing on his World Series debut in Sheffield before reaching the final and finishing eighth in the 3m on his World Championship debut in Shanghai.
Fencer Husayn Rosowsky from Sheffield was funded by SportsAid in 2007 and has gone from strength to strength ever since. He won a Silver medal at the British Senior Championships in 2011 and aspires to become an Olympic champion in the coming weeks.
Eleanor Faulkner, also from Sheffield, was supported by SportsAid in 2006 and 2009 and is one of the most exciting young members of the swimming squad. In October last year she won a Silver medal in the 800m freestyle at the Fina World Cup in Stockholm, in a time of 8 minutes 21.19 seconds. Eleanor, who also won a 400m freestyle Bronze at the 2010 Youth Olympics, then went on to claim the Bronze medal in the 400m in Stockholm.
SportsAid played a pivotal role in supporting these athletes at critical points in their career. Everyone involved with SportsAid in Yorkshire can be very proud of all of them. We hope you will join us in following their progress and supporting them throughout the Games.
SportsAid Y&H would like to wish all our alumni the best of luck in London.
Enjoy the Olympic spectacle – by supporting SportsAid you have helped to make it happen.
See the full list of WY Olympians and Paralympians
