Team Bath Olympic athletes enjoy homecoming celebration

 

Jazz Carlin, Siobhan-Marie O'Connor, Chris Walker-Hebborn, Paul Blake and Emily Diamond were all at the event to revel in their fantastic achievements at this year's Olympics that took place in Brazil's Rio de Janeiro this summer.

 

They were joined by graduate Heather Stanning, the double rowing Olympic champion, at a special ceremony on campus.

 

Blake, who Britain’s 50th gold of the Paralympic Games in Bath's University’s 50th-anniversary year, said: "The University of Bath has supported my career for the past seven years now and I am very lucky to have access to all the world-class facilities here."

 

“I really enjoyed Rio as a Games and I’m really happy to have completed the full set of Paralympic medals.”

 

Sports Technology graduate Stanning and her partner in Britain’s imperious women’s pair, Helen Glover, both learnt to row at the University with the GB Rowing Team Start programme.

 

Having become the first British women ever to win a rowing title at London 2012, they made more history this summer by defending their crown in emphatic style.

 

“It’s 12 years ago that I started rowing at the University having never set foot in a boat before,” said Stanning, who was inducted into the University of Bath Hall of Fame for Sport earlier this year.

 

“By the time I left here I was an U23 World Champion and that was all thanks to the Start programme, it all escalated from there.

 

“Helen and I went to Rio undefeated in five years and as defending champions so there was way more pressure on us than London. We were there to do a job, so the gold medal means an awful lot more because of all the hard work we had to do for it.”

 

Carlin – coached by Dave McNulty and Graeme Antwhistle – won two of  the six medals Team GB won in the pool as she grabbed silver in both the 400m and 800m freestyle.

 

“To execute both my race plans and come away with two silvers was amazing,” she said.

 

“I loved being part of Team GB and making new friendships. You could really feel that Olympic atmosphere, it was all really special.”

 

O’Connor, who has trained in the Olympic-sized pool at the University of Bath since she was nine years old, also won silver with a stunning performance in the 200m individual medley.

 

“We did so well at the Bath National Centre and as the whole swimming squad, it was great to be part of it,” she said.

 

“I’ve been swimming here at the University for the past ten years and to be part of something like this is very special. The facilities are world class and the results across all the different sports show that.”

 

Athletes Doyle and Diamond, coached by Malcolm Arnold and Jared Deacon respectively, both train at the University and formed half of the women’s 4x400m relay quartet that won Olympic bronze.

 

“Rio already seems a long time ago for me, so it’s nice to come back to events like this and be able to relive it and reflect on it,” said Doyle.

 

Diamond added: “Training every day with Eilidh at the University means we have that connection, friendship and bond that we can take into major competitions, it really helps.”

 

The ceremony also acknowledged the achievements of University-based Paralympians Piers Gilliver and Nicole Walters, who won wheelchair fencing silver and para-triathlon bronze respectively but were unable to attend on the day.