British diving ace Matty Lee believes the rest of his career is now nothing more than a bonus after winning Olympic gold in Tokyo.
The 23-year-old propelled himself to glory alongside Tom Daley at this summer’s Games in the synchronised 10m platform.
Lee and Daley recorded points total of 471.81 to see off China’s Chen Aisen and Cao Yuan, who took the silver, and the Russian Olympic Committee’s Viktor Minibaev and Aleksandr Bondar, who won bronze.
He spoke at the Olympic Stadium after attending ‘I Am Team GB’s’ ‘Festival of Sport’, an event organised by Team GB and Toyota offering free and fun sporting activities to help people get active alongside their Olympic heroes.
Team GB inspiring the nation to get active ????️
Try your own Olympic sport through I Am Team GB’s Festival of Sport this summer ☀️
Supported by @ToyotaUK
— Team GB (@TeamGB) August 11, 2021
“I’ve made my dream come true, I’ve won a gold medal, so whatever comes is just a bonus,” said Lee.
“I can go to the next Olympics and enjoy it and have my family and friends, everyone’s support.
“There were no crowds, it was weird, so it’ll be nice to aspire to Paris and hopefully have a big crowd there.
“The first two days, it was like: ‘oh my god, what is this, this is crazy,’ but you’re also there as an athlete, you’re there to compete, so you’re pretty much in the zone the whole time.
“I’ve still got Paris in me, it’s a lot more local, so hopefully, we’ll have spectators, and people can come out and support Team GB.”
There were free hero events at the Olympic Stadium, the Stadium of Light in Sunderland, plus a family fun day at Paulton Park, the home of Team GB’s newest recruit Peppa Pig, while other events took place all over the country on August 14 and 15.
The event at the Olympic Stadium in Stratford started with a ‘Lap of Honour’ around the London Stadium within the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, followed by activities delivered from the main stage by local clubs, NGBs and other activity providers.
Lee added: “Being able to do this today, like see everyone and see how happy they are, I feel love, everyone’s having photos.
“We knew that with Team GB, the whole country gets behind you at the Olympic Games, and I knew that, but when you’re there, you don’t have an idea.
“I’ve been getting little kids running up to me asking for photos, and that to me is genuinely amazing. I love it.”
I Am Team GB is already a much-loved and successful mass participation event, having seen over one million people in the UK take part after the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and welcome home the country’s history making athletes at their local sports clubs and community events.
Over 4,000 people attended the I Am Team GB Festival of Sport event at the London Olympic Stadium. This is added to the thousands more taking part in events across the country.
We hope you had as much fun as we did!! ???? ????????
Supported by @ToyotaUK #GetUpGetActive #IAmTeamGB pic.twitter.com/XMDNqJYLAj
— Team GB (@TeamGB) August 14, 2021
Team GB Commercial Director, Tim Ellerton, added: “We are really excited to have launched I Am Team GB. With the support of our presenting partner Toyota, we created a host of free events up and down the country for those inspired by the Olympics to get up and active this summer, with a festival of sport on August 14 and 15.”
The ‘Festival of Sport’ harnessed the incredible stories of Team GB athletes in Tokyo to inspire men and women, boys, and girls across the UK to ‘Get Up and Get Active’ at free and fun events held around the country across the weekend of August 14 and 15.
Tom Whiteside, Sponsorship Manager for Toyota said: “Toyota is all about promoting mobility, so to activate our sponsorship of Team GB we wanted to create something in partnership that enabled us to take the magic of the Olympics and inspire people to get up and get active, irrespective of age, experience or skill level and I Am Team GB gives us the perfect opportunity for us to do just that and we have more exciting activations to announce over the course of the campaign.”
If you want to get involved; go to IAmTeamGB.com to find an event near you.
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