Somerset Olympians: Which athletes from Somerset are competing in the Olympics?

As this summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo get underway, we reveal which Somerset athletes will be flying the flag for country and county

Brodie Williams will be competing in the 400m individual medley. The 22-year-old grew up in Street, where he attended Brookside Community Primary School and Crispin School Academy before his sporting talent, swimming, saw him gain a place at nearby Millfield School.

Jacob Peters will be swimming in the 100m butterfly. Like Brodie, Jacob is another British swimmer who has successfully progressed through the youth ranks to establish himself at senior international level. Surrey-born and Dorset-raised, the butterfly swimmer has been training at the University of Bath for the past year as he looks to build on his gold medal triumph alongside Brodie at the European Aquatics Championships in Glasgow in 2018.

Jacob met the qualification standard of both swimming inside the Olympic consideration time and finishing in the top two at the British Swimming Selection Trials in London in April this year (Image: 2021 British Swimming Selection Trials)

Triathlete Vicky Holland will be flying the flag in the most unusual Olympics imaginable - which included the one-year delay of the Games as a result of the pandemic. The University of Bath has been something of a saving grace for triathlete Vicky Holland. She has had access to the Sports Training Village in Bath for virtually the entire time the pandemic has been going on.

Vicky, who became Britain’s first female winner of an Olympic triathlon medal, when she took a bronze at Rio in 2016, was born in Gloucester in1986. She is one of a host of world-class triathletes to have trained at the University of Bath in recent times, along with the likes of Paralympic bronze medallist Nicole Walters and fellow para-triathlete Michael Taylor. Tokyo marks her third Olympic appearance, having also featured at the 2012 and 2016 Games.

Vicky Holland: ‘We’ve been really lucky that we’ve had access to the Sports Training Village here in Bath for virtually the entire time the pandemic has been going on’ (Image: Team Bath and Matchtight)

Double Rio 2016 medallist James Guy and former World Champion Ben Proud are amongst nine swimmers from Bath University to make the 28-strong swimming squad for the Olympics, with Freya Anderson, Kieran Bird, Matt Richards, Tom Dean and Calum Jarvis also included.

The Team Bath Sports Training Village has been home to Pentathlon GB’s National Training Centre since 1998 and pentathletes Joe Choong, Jamie Cooke and Kate French have all made it into Team GB for Tokyo.

Three Bath University--based judoka are also at the Games - namely Ben Fletcher and Megan Fletcher, representing Ireland and Prisca Awiti-Alcaraz, representing Mexico.

High jumper Tom Gale confirmed his place in Tokyo in June. His training partner Levern Spencer will also be representing St Lucia in what will be her fourth Olympics. Sprinters Emily Diamond and Cameron Chalmers have also qualified for the Games.

Wheelchair fencers Dimitri Coutya and Piers Gilliver have both qualified for the Paralympics, ranked number one in the world in their class.

Dimitri Coutya, a fencer, is ranked number one in the world in his class (Image: Team Bath and Matchtight)

Michael Taylor (paratriathlon) has also qualified and there are also places for Stephanie Millward (swimming), Sophie Kamlish and Polly Maton (both athletics).

There is a well-deserved place for Polly Maton (athletics). (Image: Adrian Stykowski)

University of Bath graduate Victoria Thornley, who won a silver medal in the double sculls alongside Katherine Grainger in 2016, is on track for a medal at the Games.

Keinton Mandeville-raised former King’s College (Taunton) pupil Maddie Hinch is included in Team GB’s hockey squad, after her goalkeeping heroics helped her country to a gold medal five years ago, while Bristol-born Lily Owsley has also made the 16.

Fellow Bristolian Emily Diamond, who formerly represented Avon at the English Schools Athletics Championships, will be competing in the 400m and 4x400m events at the Olympics.