If Yorkshire were a country... The opening week for our region's Olympic stars
Our Sports Correspondent, Chris Dawkes has this analysis as the Tokyo 2020 Olympics get underway:
"If Yorkshire were a country..." How many times did we hear that in London nine years ago, and then in Rio four years later? Sporting excellence and our region now go hand in glove - or should that be hand in javelin? - thanks to the success of Jessica Ennis-Hill, Alistair Brownlee and Nicola Adams to name just three. Now with the Olympic torch burning bright in Tokyo we've put together a guide to the first week of competition and who we could be seeing in the jungle or dancing on ice in the next few years.
It’s that time when we all become obsessed with our freestyle, clean and jerk and dressage.
COVID-19 means these Olympics won’t be like any we’ve experienced before, yet one thing is for certain, our region will once again have a huge bearing on Team GB’s success in Tokyo.
Who can forget London 2012? Certainly not Lizzie Deignan. Team GB’s first medal winner nine years ago could be their first on the podium this year too.
The 32 year old cyclist from Otley competes in the women’s road race at 5am (UK time) on Sunday, aiming to go one better than the silver she won in London.
On the same day a new name could be added to the canon of Yorkshire champions. Doncaster’s Bradly Sinden was a taekwondo world champion in 2019 – he is being hotly tipped to pick up a medal when his competition starts at 11.15am (UK time).
For the first time in three Olympics there’ll be just one Brownlee competing in the men’s triathlon on Monday morning.
Jonny will be flying the Brownlee flag after Alistair failed to meet qualifying standards at the recent Leeds leg of the World triathlon series. It’s going to be a tall order but with bronze and silver already in the bag, it would be quite the story if the younger Brownlee completed the set by taking his brothers title.
The pool could be awash with Yorkshire medal chances on Monday with York’s James Wilby, Mollie Renshaw from Mansfield and Pontefract’s Joe Litchfield (one half of only GB’s third swimming siblings along with brother Max) all in action. Not to mention Leeds diver Matty Lee, who’ll be pairing up with Olympic veteran Tom Daley in the men’s synchro 10m platform.
If confidence guaranteed success then there’d be no need for Tom Pidcock to even jump on his saddle. The 21 year old, who does pretty much everything in the cycling world (road, cyclo cross) will go for gold on his mountain bike on Monday. He says he’s going to win it and despite a broken collar bone sustained a few short weeks ago you wouldn’t bet against the Team Ineos rider being true to his word.
Jess Learmonth and Georgia Taylor-Brown famously crossed the finishing line holding hands at a test event in Tokyo two years ago. Jess insists that won’t be happening again when the duo from Leeds take on the world’s best at the women’s triathlon on Tuesday morning.
Scarborough’s Charlotte Fry will hope she can trot to glory as part of the Equestrian Dressage team later on Tuesday morning.
On Wednesday, Harrogate’s Jack Laugher will defend his 3m synchro title with a new partner. He won gold in Rio with Chris Mears, but Dan Goodfellow will now look to recreate the same chemistry.
Whereas Huddersfield’s Ben Harris will hope his rugby 7’s team have done enough to qualify for their medal matches.
Controversy has surrounded British badminton over the last few weeks amid accusations of favouritism over selection for the games. Huddersfield’s Marcus Ellis – a bronze medal winner in the men’s doubles in Rio – will hope to put all that behind him if he’s to emulate or even better that success in the mixed doubles with partner Lauren Smith. Their medal matches begin on Wednesday.
One of the stories of the Olympics could be Long Sutton shooter Aaron Heading. The 33 year old almost lost a leg seven years ago after a motorcycle crash. An accident which left him questioning his future in the sport. A volunteer coastguard, Aaron’s decision to chase his Olympic dream will be justified if he can trap a medal on Thursday.
If that sounds like the plot of a Disney film well a medal for Chesterfield’s Liam Pitchford would be a true fairytale. Table tennis is a sport dominated by the Chinese so to be ranked 15th in the world is some achievement in itself. Making it to Thursday’s semi finals would be the stuff of dreams for the 28 year old in his third Olympics.
Who can forget Bryony Page’s beaming smile and tears from Rio five years ago? Who wants to see a repeat in Tokyo? The 30 year old from Sheffield was Britain’s first ever trampoline medal winner at an Olympics. Another on Friday might have us all reaching for our tissues.
There’s no Mo Farah at these Olympics, but there is Grimsby’s Sam Atkin and Marc Scott from North Allerton. They’ll tread the path vacated by Sir Mo in the 10,000m on Friday lunchtime.
Enjoy cheering on our athletes in the first week of competition and let's see where Yorkshire stands in the medal table in seven days time.