Who are the British athletes to watch at the 2024 Games?

Who are the British athletes to watch at the 2024 Games?

Jack Laugher: Men’s synchro 3m springboard
Laugher and 3m synchro partner Chris Mears became Britain’s first ever diving Olympic champions by claiming a historic gold at Rio 2016. The Yorkshire-born athlete continued his success in Brazil by claiming a silver medal in the 3m springboard as Team GB’s divers recorded their best Games with three medals. The 29-year-old will once again bid for glory in the 3m synchro, this time alongside his City of Leeds clubmate Anthony Harding. 

Jordan Houlden: Men’s 3m springboard
Making his Olympic debut despite recently considering giving up the sport and having overcome the challenge of discovering in his twenties that he has lived with ADHD for all of his life.

Anthony Harding: Men’s synchro 3m springboard
Harding will join forces in Paris with Britain’s first-ever Olympic diving champion, Jack Laugher. Their partnership began after Tokyo 2020, and the pair have brought home European and Commonwealth gold in the 3m synchro and added a pair of World Championship silver medals in 2022 and 2023.

Scarlett Mew Jensen: Women’s synchro 3m springboard
Mew Jenson is one of the rising stars of the Team GB diving squad. The 22-year-old was introduced to diving after being encouraged by her PE teacher to try as an eight-year-old. She competed at her first World Championship in 2019 and made her Olympic debut in 2020. At 19, she was one of the youngest members of the Team GB squad in Tokyo, finishing 22nd. She will now step back onto the Olympic springboard alongside Yasmin Harper in Paris.

Yasmin Harper: Women’s 3m springboard
Harper will make her Olympic debut at Paris alongside Scarlett Mew Jensen this summer. Harper stepped into the 3m springboard synchro pair with Mew Jenson in 2023 and the pair immediately enjoyed success by securing World Championship silver and claiming a quota spot for Paris 2024.

Grace Reid: Women’s 3m springboard
The Scot, who made the final in Rio, will be at her third Olympics having questioned her future after a difficult Tokyo 2020. She was buoyed by some stand-out performances since, including silver at the Krakow 2023 European Games.

Golf

Georgia Hall
Bournemouth-born Hall, the 2018 Women’s British Open winner, makes her Olympics debut in Paris.

Charley Hull
Hull represents Team GB for a second time following a tied seventh place finish on her Olympics debut in Rio.

Matt Fitzpatrick
Fitzpatrick makes his Olympics debut two years after a one-shot victory to claim the 2022 US Open, his first major success.

Tommy Fleetwood
Fleetwood, a seven-time DP World Tour winner, makes his second Games appearance after finishing 16th on his debut in Tokyo. 

Gymnastics (artistic)

Beckie Downie
Downie competes at her third Games after making her debut at Beijing 2008, aged 16. Paris appearance comes after a serious Achilles injury in 2022, as well as losing her brother Josh to a heart attack the year previously, plus being among those to speak out on welfare issues in gymnastics.

Ruby Evans
Evans becomes the first Welsh female artistic gymnast to represent Team GB at an Olympics since 1996. Stepped up to senior level last year and helped win European team silver in May. Olympics debut.

Georgia-Mae Fenton
A European and Commonwealth Games champion in the women’s team event, Fenton won her first individual medal at the former with uneven bars bronze earlier this year. Olympics debut.

Joe Fraser
Finished eighth and ninth on the parallel bars and in the all-around at his Olympics debut in Paris, as well as helping the men’s team to fourth. Multiple European and Commonwealth champion, he became the first British gymnast to win a world title on the parallel bars in 2019.

Harry Hepworth
Diagnosed with Legg–Calvé–Perthes disease – a childhood hip disorder – which sidelined him from sporting activity for three years, Hepworth took up gymnastics aged eight. Helped Great Britain to silver at April’s European Championships. Olympics debut.

Jake Jarman
The first English male gymnast to win four gold medals at a single Commonwealth Games in 2022, vault specialist Jarman has continued to push on since, becoming individual world and European champion. Has a signature ‘Jarman’ move named after him. Olympics debut.

Alice Kinsella
The daughter of former footballer Mark, Kinsella helped Team GB to a history-making bronze in the women’s team event at Tokyo 2020. Winner of all-around European bronze earlier this year.

Abi Martin
Martin only became age-eligible for senior selection this year and will not have received her GCSE results by the time she makes her Olympics debut in Paris. Helped Great Britain to team silver at May’s European Championships.

Luke Whitehouse
Two-time European floor champion, Whitehouse represented Team GB at the 2019 European Youth Olympic Festival. Olympics debut.

Max Whitlock
Six-time Olympic medallist Whitlock aims for one final Games hurrah before retiring after Paris. Already Team GB’s most successful Olympic gymnast, he becomes the first male gymnast to represent GB at four Games. A two-time defending pommel champion.

Gymnastics (trampoline)

Bryony Page
Injury and illness ruled Page out of selection contention for London 2012, but she has made up for it since, becoming the first Team GB trampolinist to win an Olympic medal with silver at Rio 2016, before following it up with bronze in Tokyo. Crowned world champion in 2021 and 2023.

Zak Perzamanos
The only British male trampoline gymnast to compete in Paris, Perzamanos holds the record for the most difficult routine performed at a British Gymnastics competition. Olympics debut.

Izzy Songhurst
Having begun trampolining aged two, Songhurst has gone on to win multiple global medals, including European synchronised gold for the past two years. Olympics debut. 

Judo

Chelsie Giles: Women’s -52kg
Won the first of Team GB’s 64 medals at Tokyo with bronze, and has since gone on to be crowned European champion and a world silver medallist. 

Lele Nairne: Women’s -57kg
Weston-super-Mare’s Nairne was first called up to represent Great Britain in 2019. Last year’s British champion makes her Olympics debut in Paris.

Emma Reid: Women’s-78kg
Reigning Commonwealth champion Reid selected for her first Games, a month on from claiming World Championship bronze. 

Lucy Renshall: Women’s -63kg
Four-time British champion makes her second Games appearance after exiting in the round of 32 in Tokyo. A former world number one.

Katie-Jemima Yeats-Brown: Women’s -70kg
Double Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Yeats-Brown makes Games debut after finishing fifth at 2023 World Championships. Turned to judo after being told she was not ‘elegant’ enough for gymnastics.

Hockey

Men’s team

James Albery
Injuries curtailed the early part of his GB hockey career but he fought back, captaining his country in 2022 and earning a place at his first Olympics.

David Ames
Team GB captain Ames makes his third Olympics appearance. Originally started his career with Ireland before switching to make his GB debut in 2015. Will retire from international hockey after Paris.

Will Calnan
Helped England win Commonwealth Games bronze in 2022, and finally gets chance for Olympics bow after being a travelling reserve for Tokyo.

Jacob Draper
One of two Welshmen in the team for Tokyo, Draper returns for his second Games looking to improve on the team’s fifth place finish last time out.

Gareth Furlong
Drag flick specialist Furlong has scored more than 75 goals for Wales, getting the call up for Great Britain in February this year and then the nod for a maiden Olympics.

David Goodfield
A double Commonwealth Games bronze medalist with England, Goodfield makes his Olympics debut in Paris. Away from hockey, he runs a boutique coffee business with team-mates Chris Griffiths, Phil Roper and Jacob Draper.

Lee Morton
A year after captaining Scotland at the 2023 EuroHockey Championships II, Morton makes his Olympics debut in Paris. Has a degree in criminal justice.

Nick Park
A latecomer to the sport, Park made his Great Britain debut in Feb 2022. Surbiton defender missed the Commonwealth Games with injury but now lines up for his Olympics debut.

Ollie Payne (GK)
Made his Olympics debut in goal at Tokyo, less than a year after earning his first international cap. Has continued to grow into the role since, helping England reach the final of the 2023 EuroHockey Championships.

Phil Roper
Three-time Commonwealth Games medallist is a lethal striker, and will look to be on the mark again at his second Olympics.

Liam Sanford
A Senior Aircraftman in the RAF, Sanford combines serving his country with representing it on the hockey field. Defender appears at his second Olympics in Paris.

Rupert Shipperley
Welshman appeared at the Tokyo Olympics, scoring against Belgium, and then captained his country at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, 2023 World Cup and 2023 EuroHockey Championships. Quit his job as a geography teacher to pursue his hockey dreams.

Zach Wallace
Wallace caught the eye in April 2023 when he scored what is regarded as one of the best goals in the sport’s history, with a reverse ‘tomahawk’ strike against New Zealand. Makes second Olympics appearance having captained England to Commonwealth bronze in 2022.

Jack Waller
Wimbledon stalwart is equally at home in defence or midfield. Won Commonwealth Games bronze with England in 2022, and will be looking to improve on his and Team GB’s fifth-place finish at Toyo.

Sam Ward
Finished as Great Britain’s top scorer in Tokyo with five goals, just two years after losing sight in one eye when a shot hit him directly in the eye. Third Olympic Games.

Conor Williamson
The youngest member of Team GB men’s hockey squad at Paris, Williamson, 20 made his international debut in 2023. Olympics debut.

Women’s team

Giselle Ansley
Defender looks to keep up her habit of winning a medal at every Olympics she has attended, starting with historic gold at Rio 2016 and then bronze in Tokyo.

Amy Costello
A reserve for Tokyo, Costello makes her long-awaited Olympics debut in Paris after accruing over 100 combined caps for Great Britain and Scotland.

Fiona Crackles
Cumbria native won Olympic bronze in Tokyo, 10 months after her Great Britain debut. Has since added Commonwealth Games gold in 2022.

Hannah French
Heads for her second Olympics after bronze in Tokyo. Older brother Harry Martin competed for GB at London 2012 and Rio 2016.

Sophie Hamilton
Hamilton made her international debut in 2022, earning a place on the senior programme two years later alongside twin sister Olivia. Olympics debut comes two years after Commonwealth Games gold.

Tess Howard
A serious knee injury curtailed hopes of an Olympics debut in Tokyo but Howard has since gone on to win Commonwealth Games gold in 2022. Led the campaign to allow female players to wear shorts after research she conducted showed that many women and girls stop playing sport due to issues with clothing.

Sarah Jones
Welsh midfielder was on the podium in Tokyo as Team GB won Olympic bronze. Combative attacking style makes her a crucial asset for the team.

Lily Owsley
University of Birmingham graduate competes at her third Olympics after historic gold in Rio followed by bronze in Tokyo. Has been a fixture on the international scene for over a decade.

Hollie Pearne-Webb
Defender and captain is one of the most experienced members of the team for Paris. Her penalty decided the shootout in which Team GB won gold in Rio, with bronze also coming in Tokyo. Added Commonwealth Games gold to her collection in 2022.

Flora Peel
The great-granddaughter (to the power of five) of Robert Peel, the former Prime Minister, Peel was a British slalom ski champion aged 12 before switching to hockey. Helped England to Commonwealth Games gold in 2022 and now makes her Olympics debut.

Izzy Petter
Petter plays at her second Olympics in Paris, with a bronze medal from Tokyo already in her back pocket.

Miriam Pritchard (GK)
Goalkeeper makes her Olympics debut two years on from being added to the senior Great Britain training squad.

Sarah Robertson
An aspiring footballer growing up, Robertson represented Scotland up to Under-17 level. A switch to hockey followed, helping Team GB win Olympic bronze in Tokyo.

Laura Roper
Roper is Team GB’s most successful hockey player having won three consecutive Olympic medals: bronze in 2012 and 2021, either side of gold in 2016. The 36-year-old says she will retire after the Games.

Anna Toman
Having missed out on a place in Team GB’s gold-medal winning team in 2016, Toman marked her Olympics debut in Tokyo with bronze. Returns to the squad after missing 2023 due to knee surgery.

Charlotte Watson
Watson was part of the provisional squad for Tokyo before the Games were postponed for a year due to Covid and then missed the cut for 2021. Scottish player, who is also a talented juggler, finally makes her Olympics bow in Paris.

Modern pentathlon 

Kerenza Bryson
Plymouth-born Bryson makes first Olympics appearance after recently finishing 10th at the World Championships in China.

Joe Choong
In Tokyo, gold-medal winner Choong became the first Team GB athlete to win a medal in the men’s individual event since its inception in 1912. Third Games appearance.

Kate French
Broke the Olympic points record on the way to gold in Tokyo in 2021. Paris will represent French’s third Olympic Games.

Myles Pillage
Army reservist and 2023 World Championship bronze medallist makes his Olympics debut.

Rowing

Heidi Long: Women’s eight
Long switched to the women’s eight at the start of the year, having won world and European gold in the women’s four in 2022, followed by further international podium finishes in 2023. The 27-year-old will be paying tribute to her late father in Paris, with log-in details for Olympic tickets and accommodation among the last notes he left before passing away last year. Olympics debut.

Rowan McKellar: Women’s eight
Coming from a rowing family, it is little surprise McKellar has ended up taking the path she has, even taking part in her first race, aged 10, alongside her dad. Fourth on her Olympic debut in Tokyo in the women’s four, she was crowned world and European champion in the women’s four in 2022.

Holly Dunford: Women’s eight
Inspired to take up rowing after watching the sport at Eton Dorney at London 2012, University of Washington geography graduate made her senior GB rowing debut in 2024, helping the women’s eight to world silver. Olympics debut.

Emily Ford: Women’s eight
Having competed at Tokyo 2020 (along with her older brother Tom), finishing fifth in the women’s eight, Emily makes her second Games appearance (as does her brother). Fourth at the 2023 World Championships, Ford is also a three-time European silver medallist.

Lauren Irwin: Women’s eight
Irwin, the first Olympian to come from the County Durham town of Peterlee, made her senior GB debut in 2021. She has since won consecutive European silvers in the women’s eight in 2022, 2023 and 2024. Olympics debut.

Eve Stewart: Women’s eight
Born and raised in the Netherlands but also cheered on by her famously patriotic grandmother Pat, Stewart switched to GB colours in recent years, winning 2024 European silver in the women’s eight. Olympics debut.

Hattie Taylor: Women’s eight
Having first started rowing in Year 7 at school, Taylor returns for her second Olympics having finished fourth in the women’s four in Tokyo. She was part of the women’s eight to win European silver earlier this year.

Annie Campbell-Orde: Women’s eight
It was netball which originally occupied  Campbell-Orde’s sporting endeavors growing up, before switching to rowing at Loughborough University. She made her international debut in the women’s eight last year, before qualifying the women’s eight boat for Paris with a fourth place at the 2023 World Rowing Championships. Olympics debut. 

Henry Fieldman (cox): Women’s eight
A long-term presence with the GB team having made his senior team debut in 2012, cox Fieldman returns for a second Olympics, having helped the men’s eight to bronze in 2020.

Sholto Carnegie: Men’s eight
Having narrowly missed out on a debut Olympics medal in Tokyo, finishing fourth behind the Italians, Carnegie has broadened his international medal collection in the men’s eight in the years since, including two world titles and three European golds.

Rory Gibbs: Men’s eight
A nimble winger in rugby, and track sprinter, injuries forced Gibbs to switch his attentions to rowing. Fourth in the men’s eight at Tokyo, Gibbs has won back-to-back world titles since, plus three European golds in a row.

Morgan Bolding: Men’s eight
Taken into care aged six and sent to live with his grandparents in Cornwall, Bolding first picked up the rowing bug at Castle Dore Rowing Club. He then moved to Walton Rowing Club, Surrey, aged 16, to pursue his sporting ambitions, eventually making it as a reserve for the Tokyo Olympics. Paris will be his Games debut.

Jacob Dawson: Men’s eight
After the high of Olympic bronze in the men’s eight at Tokyo, qualified tree surgeon Dawson was forced to take time away from the team in 2022 to recover from a life threatening pulmonary embolism, caused by Covid complications. He returned to full fitness in 2023, winning world and European gold.

Charlie Elwes: Men’s eight
Having tried out multiple sports growing up, Elwes eventually settled on rowing, competing in multiple college national championships in the US. He returns for his second Olympics having won bronze in the men’s eight in Tokyo.

Tom Digby: Men’s eight
Inspired by watching the famous Henley Royal Regatta growing up, Digby has gone on to win the event four times. He joined the GB rowing team in 2021, with the double world champion rowing in Paris in memory of his late mother, who passed away in Dec 2023, after being diagnosed with breast cancer. Olympics debut.

James Rudkin: Men’s eight
Initially coached by his dad after taking up rowing aged seven, Rudkin was part of the men’s eight boat to win bronze at Tokyo 2020. He also has two world and four European titles to his name in the men’s eight.

Tom Ford: Men’s eight
A double world and four-time European champion, Ford returns for his second Olympics, having won bronze in the men’s eight in Tokyo. His sister, Emily, is also making her second Games appearance.

Harry Brightmore (cox): Men’s eight
History comes full circle for cox Brightmore in Paris. His first Olympic memory was watching Steve Trapmore take gold in the men’s eight at Sydney 2000, with the latter the man to be coaching him in France. A world and European champion, Brightmore makes his Olympics debut this summer.

Helen Glover: women’s four
A two-time Olympic, three-time world and five-time European champion, Glover has already etched her name into the history books, including winning Team GB’s first gold medal at London 2012. In Tokyo, Glover became the first Team GB rower to compete at an Olympics after having children. If she were to medal in Paris – her fourth Olympics – she would be the first mother-of-three to stand on an Olympic podium.

Esme Booth: women’s four
It proved to be an unusual start to rowing for Booth, who took up the sport when her name was pulled out of a hat for a local primary school competition to try it out. She made history in 2023 alongside Emily Ford when the pair became the first British women to qualify two boats for an Olympic Games at the same regatta, racing in the women’s pair and women’s eight at the Belgrade World Championships. However it is in the women’s four she makes her Olympics debut.

Sam Redgrave: women’s four
No relation to five-time Olympic champion Steve, Redgrave fell in love with rowing while studying at the University of East Anglia. She became world champion in the women’s four in 2022 and makes her Olympics debut in the same boat in Paris.

Rebecca Shorten: women’s four
A rower as a junior, Belfast’s Shorten walked away from the sport temporarily after becoming disillusioned before being coaxed back by her father. Fourth on her Olympics debut in Tokyo, she won world gold in 2022 followed by bronze the year after.

Oli Wilkes: men’s four
Having picked up rowing at the University of Edinburgh, Wilkes broke into the GB team in 2021, and was reserve for Tokyo 2020. Now a world and European champion, he makes his Olympics debut in Paris. Prior to rowing, former competitive swimmer Wilkes once beat Britain’s Adam Peaty in a freestyle race.

David Ambler: men’s four
Ambler’s Olympic dreams were made stronger by watching several sports in person during London 2012. He helped the men’s four boat win world gold in 2023 and European gold this year. Ambler’s other claim to fame is scoring a try against England’s Ben Earl when playing junior rugby. Olympics debut.

Matt Aldridge: men’s four
A love of rowing was fostered by his dad Steve’s long association with Christchurch Rowing Club. He was forced to miss the 2022 World Championships due to Covid, watching from his hotel room as his team-mates won gold. Since then he has helped the boat retain their world title. Olympics debut.

Freddie Davidson: men’s four
Inspired by watching the Boat Race come by close to home, Davidson took up rowing at secondary school, and broke into the GB team in 2021. Davidson has helped the men’s four boat win two world titles and three European titles leading up to Paris. Olympics debut.

Lauren Henry: women’s quadruple sculls
Henry won the GB Rowing Team Senior Trials in 2023 at the age of 21, gaining selection for the GB women’s quad boat. Later in the year she added a world title to her name in Belgrade. Olympics debut.

Hannah Scott: women’s quadruple sculls
A second Olympics for Northern Ireland’s Scott after making her debut while still studying for a degree in sociology at Princeton University. Won gold in the women’s quad last year.

Lola Anderson: women’s quadruple sculls
Aged 14, Anderson wrote in her diary that she wanted to win an Olympic medal, before ripping it out of embarrassment. Her father, Don, returned the diary entry to Anderson, shortly before he passed away. She became a world champion in 2023 – the first time GB had won gold in that boat class since 2010. Olympics debut.

Georgie Brayshaw: women’s quadruple sculls
Fifteen years after a serious horse riding accident left her in a coma and paralysed the left side of her body for a year, Yorkshire’s Brayshaw makes her Olympics debut in Paris in the women’s quad. She took up rowing in her second year at the University of Northampton and won world gold last year and European gold earlier this year.

Tom Barras: men’s quadruple sculls
Helped to win Team GB’s first ever medal in the men’s quad at Tokyo with silver, qualified physiotherapist Barras is eyeing a second podium finish in Paris.

Callum Dixon: men’s quadruple sculls
Sport-lover Dixon actually joined the British Sailing Team pathway in 2016 in the Finn class before it was dropped from the Olympic programme after Tokyo. He switched to rowing and made his GB debut in 2022. Diagnosed as dyslexic aged eight, Dixon counts his psychology degree as one of his proudest achievements. Olympics debut.

Matt Haywood: men’s quadruple sculls
Having original viewed rowing as a hobby after starting aged 12, Haywood joined the GB Rowing Start program five years later, and then the GB senior squad in 2021. He makes his Olympics debut in Paris.

Graeme Thomas: men’s quadruple sculls
Could it be third time lucky for Thomas when it comes to an Olympics medal? In 2016 he withdrew from the team on the eve of the Games due to illness, then placed fourth in Tokyo in the men’s double. After single sculls world bronze in 2022, Thomas competes in the men’s quadruple sculls in Paris.

Emily Craig: lightweight women’s double sculls
One hundredth of a second separated Craig and team-mate Imogen Grant from a debut Olympics medal in Toyko. That fourth-place finish has driven them on this Olympiad, winning ten successive international regattas, winning two world and European titles.

Imogen Grant: lightweight women’s double sculls
Cambridge medical graduate graduate Grant has been on a stunning unbeaten run alongside Emily Craig this Olympic cycle, being crowned double world champions, double European champions and the World Rowing Crew of the Year in 2023. It comes after an agonising fourth-place finish in Tokyo.

Becky Wilde: women’s double sculls
Formerly an international swimmer for Wales, Wilde picked up rowing while at the University of Bath, having been inspired by Helen Glover and Heather Stanning. She makes her Olympics debut in Paris.

Mathilda Hodgkins Byrne: women’s double sculls
Having made her Olympics debut in Tokyo in the women’s quadruple sculls, Hodgkins Byrne took time out of the boat to become a mother to son, Freddie in 2022. She and Becky Wilde qualified the women’s double sculls boat for Paris at the final Olympic qualification regatta in May.

Ollie Wynne-Griffith: men’s pair
Having won Olympic bronze in the men’s eight in Tokyo rowing strokeside, Wynne-Griffith, who is colour blind, has switched to bowside this Olympiad, racing alongside childhood friend Tom George. The pair were crowned European champions earlier this year. 

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