Olympians and Paralympians from West Yorkshire including Hannah Cockroft OBE honoured at special celebration in Leeds' Civic Hall

Yorkshire Evening Post

Leeds’ sporting superstars were honoured at a special celebration in Civic Hall where athletes including Hannah Cockroft OBE, Jack Laugher and Luke Whitehouse reflected on the influence the city has had on their Olympic and Paralympic careers.

Transcript

00:00I think it's been pretty incredible, hasn't it?

00:02Yeah, I think this summer is going to be hard to beat.

00:06It's the summer that I've waited for since 2012.

00:09Being back in that stadium with 80,000 people supporting us

00:12is something that we haven't had in the last 12 years

00:15and it was your first experience of it, wasn't it?

00:17So finally getting that was like a dream come true.

00:21Yeah, I went to watch in 2012 and I was part of the crowd

00:23but there's a very different atmosphere when you're on the track

00:26and it's for you, it's really different.

00:28To be able to go there and come fourth,

00:32people always say that the success at a Games is medals

00:36but actually it's what does success look like for you

00:38and for me, coming fourth was absolutely incredible,

00:41so I'm really happy.

00:43I think this is fantastic for me.

00:44As a Yorkshire girl, I train in Leeds, I'm part of Leeds City AC

00:47and just to get the recognition alongside our Olympic peers

00:51is fantastic.

00:53I think being in this room, it just shows how much power

00:56that Leeds has, not just athlete-wise but also the facilities we can offer,

01:00the coaches we offer, Leeds has got it all

01:03and I love getting to come and show that off.

01:06Yeah, it's been a fantastic summer we did.

01:08As a team, we did really well in the diving,

01:10especially us from Yorkshire here.

01:12Myself personally, I was really happy with the bronze medal

01:14with Anthony on the three-metre springboard in the synchro.

01:17Wish the individual would have gone slightly better

01:19but I was really happy overall with my performance.

01:21And what was it like being there?

01:23It must have been electric just being in Paris at that time.

01:25Yeah, it was great, especially after COVID in Tokyo.

01:29We had no fans out there in Tokyo,

01:31so it was really nice to get friends and family out there

01:33and to have the support of both my teammates and the full crowd as well.

01:37You've been training in Leeds since you've been young.

01:40What's it like to be honoured by the city today?

01:42Oh, it's wonderful.

01:43Leeds is what I consider my home.

01:45I've lived here for over 10 years now and I've made my life here.

01:48It's wonderful to be invited to the Civic Hall

01:50and to be honoured here is such a nice little cherry

01:53on top of the great summer that we've had so far.

01:56Councillor Abigail Marshall-Couture, you're the Lord Mayor of Leeds.

01:59Could you tell me a bit about why we're here tonight?

02:02Yes, why we're here today is a very special day.

02:05Today is all about our Olympians, Paralympians

02:08who participated in the Olympics and Paralympics in summer.

02:13And basically they're all from West Yorkshire.

02:16Leeds is hosting all of them and we're just here to celebrate

02:19and tell them welcome and to tell them how really proud we are

02:22of their achievements in Paris.

02:26Leeds-born or Leeds-trained athletes have brought home

02:30a remarkable total number of 13 medals

02:35from Yorkshire, from Paris to Yorkshire.

02:38Give them another huge round of applause!

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