Paris 2024 Olympians and Paralympians are celebrated during special homecoming reception at University of Bath
18 November 2024
Five Paris 2024 medallists were among the Olympians and Paralympians whose achievements were celebrated at a special homecoming reception at the University of Bath.
The athletes all train, study or studied at the University, one of the country’s leading institutions for high-performance sport, and were joined at the gathering by staff, coaches and civic representatives from Bath and Somerset.
Double Paralympic Champion Dimitri Coutya (wheelchair fencing) and Olympic gold-medallist Kieran Bird (swimming) were in attendance along with Dan Bethell (para-badminton), Piers Gilliver (wheelchair fencing) and Becky Wilde (rowing), who all enjoyed podium success in Paris.
Tokyo Olympic Champion Freya Anderson, Leah Crisp and Jacob Whittle, Bird’s team-mates in the Aquatics GB Bath Performance Centre, also attended, as did Pentathlon GB’s Kate French and Charlie Brown. Demonstrating the international nature of the University’s Paris contingent were student-athletes Henrique Mascarenhas (swimming) and Sofia Sjostrom (eventing), who represented Angola and Sweden respectively.
The event was hosted by Professor Phil Taylor, Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Bathwho said: “We are immensely proud of the athletes’ achievements in Paris this summer and delighted we can celebrate that today.
“In total there were 30 athletes who either train, study or studied at the University who competed in Paris, across 12 different sports and representing seven countries, and they brought home an incredible 17 medals between them.
“We were honoured earlier this year to be awarded the status of UK Sport-accredited Elite Training Centre, celebrating the University’s role in helping Team GB and ParalympicsGB athletes achieve their full performance potential.
“Supporting high-performance athletes is just part of the University’s commitment to sport. We are Top 10 in the World University Rankings for sports-related subjects, and our sports coursesinnovative research and first-class facilities help improve fitness, health and sporting techniques for people around the world.”
Speaking on behalf of the Olympic athletes, women’s double sculls bronze-medallist Wilde – who made the switch from swimming to rowing while studying Sport and Social Sciences – thanked the University for supporting her through lengthy injury rehabilitation during her time as a student-athlete.
“There was a period in my second year of rowing when I didn’t know if I’d ever get back in a boat again but the University backed me throughout,” said Wilde, who was supported by a Santander Scholarship. “It is thanks to my physio Heather Foster, my coach Dan Harris [with the GB Rowing Team Start Programme] and having access to the amazing facilities here that I was able to continue my rowing career.”
Category B epee and foil champion Coutya, who won four medals in total in Paris, spoke on behalf of the Paralympic athletes. He has trained full-time at the University since 2016 and was the second athlete, after Gilliver, to join a wheelchair fencing programme, led by the UK Sports Institute (UKSI)that has gone from strength to strength during the past decade.
“I remember being in the Paralympic Village in Paris and taking a moment to reflect on how fortunate I was to be part of the University of Bath and how their support had helped me reach this unique environment,” he said. “The reason we have come back with so many medals is thanks to the work we do in the Team Bath Sports Training Village and the Wheelchair Fencing National Training Centre [opened in 2022] that we call home.”
Speaking on behalf of the support staff was David McNulty, Head Coach of the Aquatics GB Bath Performance Centre whose athletes – including Bird and triple Olympic Champion Tom Dean – have won 14 medals across the past four Olympic Games.
“The environment and atmosphere that the Team Bath staff give us at the STV is second to none,” he said. “I’ve said it many times but there is nowhere in the world that has the same feel when you walk in. We won two gold medals in Paris but I know we can do better and that has spurred us on to go again for LA 2028.”
Also attending the reception were Ted Allen, Vice-Lieutenant of Somerset; Cllr Karen Walker, Chair of Bath & North East Somerset Council; Cllr Ruth Malloy, Deputy Mayor of Bath; and Kevin Guy, Leader of Bath & North East Somerset Council.
Find out more about sport at the University of Bath by visiting bath.ac.uk/sport and teambath.com.
