Georgia Bell, an occasional runner during lockdown who made it to the Olympic final of the women’s 1500m, set a new British record to take bronze as a rush of success including silvers in artistic swimming and taekwondo took Britain’s rivalry with France in the medal table into the last day.
At the age of 30, this was Bell’s first Olympic appearance but in a lightning quick race in the Stade de France that saw Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon set a new Games record, the British runner stayed with the leading pack in the first 800m before finding the strength to kick on in the final leg.
Her time of 3.52.61 was the fastest that any British woman has run the 1500m, a feat all the more remarkable given Bell only renewed her relationship with the sport to keep fit during the Covid pandemic.
Kipyegon improved on her previous Olympic record time, set in Tokyo, with 3:51:29. Silver went to Australia’s Jessica Hull.
Bell said: “I don’t know if I’ve ever been this happy. That was an absolutely crazy race. I woke up this morning really calm and in a very good mood and thought I’m not the fastest person in that race but if I was brave and got stuck in then I can make something happen. So yeah, over the moon and I’m an Olympic medallist.”
Bell, who has a full-time job working with artificial intelligence, had fallen out of love with athletics in 2017. She had stopping running altogether by the last Olympics in Tokyo, but returned to it after a good park run in March 2022.
“I am so happy I came back to this sport,” she said. “Mainly, I’m happy with what running has given me. Obviously it’s amazing to be at the Olympics but when I took up running again, the goal wasn’t to make the Olympics, that would have been absolutely bonkers.
“At the time, it was coming back to something that I really loved. I love it being part of my life, I look forward to that part of the day and I’ve made friends through it.”
Bell’s medal-winning run was followed in the Stade de France by bronze medals for Team GB’s men and women’s 400m relay teams. The US won gold in both, with silver for Botswana and the Netherlands, respectively.
It took a European record time of 2.55.83 for the British men to claim their medal.
Alex Haydock-Wilson, 25, from Lewisham, who had already won a bronze in the mixed 400m relay, said: “Two Olympic medals is more than I could have hoped for.” Kate Shortman and Izzy Thorpe won silver in the artistic swimming duet – the first medal for Great Britain in the sport. China’s Wang Liuyi and Wang Qianyi took gold and the Netherlands’ Bregje de Brouwer and Noortje de Brouwer came in third. Team GB’s Caden Cunningham, 21, from Huddersfield had to settle for silver after being beaten by Iran’s Arian Salimi in the final of the men’s +80kg category of taekwondo.
There was a bronze in the aquatics centre for Britain’s Noah Williams in the men’s 10m platform diving. He had previously taken silver with Tom Daley in the synchronised dive.
Williams joins Daley, 30, and Jack Laugher, 29, in an exclusive club of British divers who have won two medals at a Games.
The 24-year-old only qualified for Saturday’s final in 12th place and he dropped points after over-rotating on his fourth dive, but two final efforts put him on the podium alongside Cao Yuan, whose gold confirmed a clean sweep of the diving titles for China. Japan’s Rikuto Tamai took silver.
Of comparisons with Daley and Laugher, Williams said: “I just got lucky. Those two are a whole other level. They are the greatest of GB diving.”
Britain’s Emile Cairess meanwhile came fourth in only his third ever marathon, on a course said to be the most brutal in Olympic history.
In sweltering heat on the road from Versailles to Paris, Cairess clocked a time of 2hr 7min 29sec, finishing just 29 seconds outside a podium position.
It had looked at one stage that Cairess, the European record holder in the 10-mile road race, might snatch a marathon medal. He had been in second position at about 18 miles, but dropped back to sixth before kicking on to overhaul two rivals to take fourth.
Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola took gold in an Olympic record time of 2hr 6min 26sec, after making his move at 18 miles on a hill with a 13.5% incline. He finished 21 seconds clear of Belgium’s Bashir Abdi, with Kenya’s Benson Kipruto taking bronze.
Cairess, from Bradford, said: “The course was tough; it was really hard. London is pretty flat, so that was way harder.”
It remained unclear, with a day of events to go, which countries will take the leading positions behind China and the US in the medal table, with Australia, Japan, France and then Britain, in sixth, on a similar tally.
It was a strong day for France whose men’s volleyball team successfully defended their Olympic title against Poland while Althéa Laurin won the women’s +67kg taekwondo gold, allowing the host nation to extend its lead over Team GB in the table. There was also a first medal in the athletics for the host nation when Cyréna Samba-Mayela took silver in a photo-finish in the women’s 100m hurdles behind Masai Russell of the US.
UK Sport had forecast that Team GB would win between 50 and 70 medals in Paris. It is looking likely that they will come close to their Tokyo haul of 64 medals. France and Britain, who have been vying for fifth place, will both have opportunities to add to their total today.
