Olympians and Paralympians from West Yorkshire including Hannah Cockroft OBE honoured at special celebration in Leeds' Civic Hall
Leeds’ sporting superstars were honoured at a special celebration in Civic Hall where athletes including Hannah Cockroft OBE, Jack Laugher and Luke Whitehouse reflected on the influence the city has had on their Olympic and Paralympic careers.
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00:00I think it's been pretty incredible, hasn't it?
00:02Yeah, I think this summer is going to be hard to beat.
00:06It's the summer that I've waited for since 2012.
00:09Being back in that stadium with 80,000 people supporting us
00:12is something that we haven't had in the last 12 years
00:15and it was your first experience of it, wasn't it?
00:17So finally getting that was like a dream come true.
00:21Yeah, I went to watch in 2012 and I was part of the crowd
00:23but there's a very different atmosphere when you're on the track
00:26and it's for you, it's really different.
00:28To be able to go there and come fourth,
00:32people always say that the success at a Games is medals
00:36but actually it's what does success look like for you
00:38and for me, coming fourth was absolutely incredible,
00:41so I'm really happy.
00:43I think this is fantastic for me.
00:44As a Yorkshire girl, I train in Leeds, I'm part of Leeds City AC
00:47and just to get the recognition alongside our Olympic peers
00:51is fantastic.
00:53I think being in this room, it just shows how much power
00:56that Leeds has, not just athlete-wise but also the facilities we can offer,
01:00the coaches we offer, Leeds has got it all
01:03and I love getting to come and show that off.
01:06Yeah, it's been a fantastic summer we did.
01:08As a team, we did really well in the diving,
01:10especially us from Yorkshire here.
01:12Myself personally, I was really happy with the bronze medal
01:14with Anthony on the three-metre springboard in the synchro.
01:17Wish the individual would have gone slightly better
01:19but I was really happy overall with my performance.
01:21And what was it like being there?
01:23It must have been electric just being in Paris at that time.
01:25Yeah, it was great, especially after COVID in Tokyo.
01:29We had no fans out there in Tokyo,
01:31so it was really nice to get friends and family out there
01:33and to have the support of both my teammates and the full crowd as well.
01:37You've been training in Leeds since you've been young.
01:40What's it like to be honoured by the city today?
01:42Oh, it's wonderful.
01:43Leeds is what I consider my home.
01:45I've lived here for over 10 years now and I've made my life here.
01:48It's wonderful to be invited to the Civic Hall
01:50and to be honoured here is such a nice little cherry
01:53on top of the great summer that we've had so far.
01:56Councillor Abigail Marshall-Couture, you're the Lord Mayor of Leeds.
01:59Could you tell me a bit about why we're here tonight?
02:02Yes, why we're here today is a very special day.
02:05Today is all about our Olympians, Paralympians
02:08who participated in the Olympics and Paralympics in summer.
02:13And basically they're all from West Yorkshire.
02:16Leeds is hosting all of them and we're just here to celebrate
02:19and tell them welcome and to tell them how really proud we are
02:22of their achievements in Paris.
02:26Leeds-born or Leeds-trained athletes have brought home
02:30a remarkable total number of 13 medals
02:35from Yorkshire, from Paris to Yorkshire.
02:38Give them another huge round of applause!