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Team GB athletes join Olympic Day celebrations ahead of Paris 2024
Olympians Beth Tweddle, Chelsie Giles, Abi Burton and Professor Greg Whyte were among the Team GB athletes joining the Olympic Day celebrations across the nation on Sunday 23rd June.
Held on the 23rd June each year, Olympic Day aims to motivate and empower young people to embrace sport and physical activities, giving young people the chance to learn about and live the Olympic Values of friendship, excellence and respect.
With less than five weeks to go until the Opening Ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, a series of events took place across the country to mark the occasion, including a brand-new collaboration between Team GB and junior parkrun.
Team GB and junior parkrun are working together to promote the benefits of an active lifestyle, bringing the Olympic Movement and its values to life through parkrun’s network of events across the UK. junior parkrun is a free, fun, weekly community 2k event organised by volunteers of all ages for children aged four to 14, with over 400 events taking place every Sunday morning. In celebration of Olympic Day, young people at the junior parkrun in London’s Mile End were joined by Olympic medallist and three-time World Champion gymnast Beth Tweddle; Olympic bronze-winning judoka Chelsie Giles; and Olympian, former modern pentathlete and now world-renowned sport scientist Professor Greg Whyte OBE. Each of the athletes met with attendees to share their stories and help inspire the local communities to maintain active lifestyles.
After their morning junior parkrun, Beth Tweddle, Chelsie Giles and Greg Whyte headed to The Linc Centre in east London, where young people and families were invited to a special Path To Paris event. Path to Paris, a virtual challenge designed to inspire primary school children and their families to get active together in the lead up to Paris 2024, forms part of Team GB and ParalympicsGB’s Get Set programme. The community event included a range of Olympic themed give-it-a-go activities for visitors to get stuck into, as well as an athlete Q&A.
Meanwhile, in north-west London, Tokyo 2020 Olympian and rugby sevens player Abi Burton paid a visit to a Path to Paris event at Willesden Community Centre. Abi shared her story of getting back into sport after recovering from autoimmune encephalitis, and joined in some of the Path to Paris activities alongside the attendees.
Beth Tweddle said: “Olympic Day is always such a brilliant opportunity to engage young people to embrace active lifestyles, but even more so this year with Paris just around the corner. Being involved in sport throughout my life has given me the most incredible opportunities, but now as a parent it’s even more important to me that my kids grow up looking at being active as something fun that makes them feel good.
“Helping to inspire young people to get involved in sport or try something new is always really rewarding and it’s been brilliant to see them all getting stuck in today!”
Jen Rouse, Managing Director, British Olympic Foundation, said: “Paris 2024 is an incredible opportunity to inspire the next generation: we haven’t had an Olympic Games so close to home since London 2012, and it’s clear how meaningful that is for the young people taking part in our Path to Paris programme.
“We’ve seen firsthand today how powerful the stories of our extraordinary athletes can be. It’s our mission to keep showcasing those stories, working in tandem with our brilliant delivery partners across the nation to equip and inspire young people with the resilience and confidence to survive and thrive every day.”
Russ Jefferys, CEO of parkrun Global, said: “It is fantastic to officially launch our collaboration with Team GB. To have Olympians taking part at Mile End junior parkrun and to have events across the UK celebrating Olympic day is something really special. We hope this collaboration can build awareness of junior parkrun and inspire young people to take part.”
Schools, communities and families across the UK can get active by participating in the Path to Paris challenge in the lead up to the Paris 2024 Games and throughout the summer. To learn more or sign up, visit www.getset.co.uk/pathtoparis