Paris Olympics 2024: The athletes from Kent
Which sport are they competing in? Who are they and where are they from?
Photo by Luca Dugaro
The Team GB class of 2024 is just days away from the opening of Olympic Games in Paris.
Starting this Friday, July 26th, more than 300 athletes will represent Team GB aiming to beat the 22 gold medals won in Tokyo three years ago. Having won a gold medal at every edition of the Summer Olympics since 1896, the pressure is on to keep the record going.
So, we thought we’d pick out some of the athletes hailing from Kent that will be in search of a spot on the podium.
Dina Asher-Smith - Orpngton - Athletics
Probably the best known of the Kent-based athletes, Dina Asher-Smith is heading to her third games.
In Tokyo 2021, the Orpington sprinter bounced back from pulling out of the 200m to win bronze in the women's 4x100m relay with Daryl Neita, Imani-Lara Lansiquot and Bianca Williams… the same medal that she won during her debut at the Olympic Games in Rio 2016. She will be looking for Gold this time in both solo and team track events.
Georgia-Mae Fenton - Gravesend - Gymnastics
Gravesend-born Georgia-Mae Fenton heads to Paris having reached the heights in the sport, becoming a European champion in 2023 while also boasting three Commonwealth gold medals.
Katie-Jemima Yeats-Brown - Pembury - Judo
Yeats-Brown won Commonwealth gold at Glasgow 2014 at -63kg but soon stepped up to -70kg before picking up a succession of injuries.
But the Kent native returned to the Commonwealth stage to take bronze at Birmingham 2022, finished fifth at the 2023 World Championships, and eventually securing a place at Paris 2024.
Joseph Choong - Orpington - Pentathlon
Reigning Olympic champion Joe Choong will defend his title at Paris 2024 - his third games.
The Orpington local was just 21 when he made his Olympic debut in Rio, with his tenth place finish becoming a springboard to international success and he took Gold at Tokyo 2020 with a Games record performance, becoming the first British man ever to win individual Olympic gold in modern pentathlon.
Choong heads to Paris holding a complete set of global honours, adding European gold to back-to-back World Championship titles in 2022 and 2023.
Kate French - Meopham - Pentathlon
Modern pentathlete Kate French heads to her third games, this time to defend her Olympic title having won Gold in Tokyo.
French became a dominant force in the sport in 2021, winning three international medals, including setting a new women’s world record in fencing. Having stepped away from the sport for 18 months post-Tokyo, French has returned and will aim to retain her title at Paris 2024.
James Peters - Tunbridge Wells - Sailing
Nominated for BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year in 2008, progress looked like it would come quickly for virtuoso sailor James Peters.
But after missing out on Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2021, Peters returned to form alongside partner Fynn Sterritt to win European bronze in 2022 and finish sixth at the 2023 World Championships to qualify for Team GB in Paris.
Mike Bargeron - Bromley - Shooting
Mike Bargeron will enter his first Olympic Games at Paris 2024.
He earned Team GB a rifle shooting quota place at the ISSF Final Olympic Qualification Championship’ in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, shooting a British Record Qualifying score in the men’s 50m rifle 3 positions events.
Bargeron's performance in Brazil meant that he became the first British man to qualify Team GB a rifle shooting quota place since London 2012.
Nathan Hales - Medway - Shooting
Nathan Hales will also make his Olympic Games debut at Paris 2024.
It was thanks to a silver at the World Championships in Osijek, Croatia, that Hales secured his quota spot.
Since then he has hit top form by breaking the trap world record at Lonato in 2023 at the ISSF World Cup stage.
Erin McNeice - Sittingbourne - Climbing
Erin McNeice will make her Olympic debut at Paris 2024.
McNeice joined the GB Climbing Team in 2022 and, having finished her A-Levels at Fulston Manor in that same year, decided to defer her university place in Sheffield to focus on climbing full-time.
Despite an initial aversion to lead climbing, McNeice finished a superb third in the Olympic Qualifier Series to secure a spot in the new combined boulder and lead event at Paris 2024.
Eva Okra - Sevenoaks - Swimming
Eva Okaro is one of the young guns heading to Paris and will be making history in the process.
Okaro grew up swimming with twin sister Izabella in Kent and found her affinity for the pool at Sevenoaks Swimming Club, and was setting British age records by the age of 14.
At the 2024 Aquatics GB Swimming Championships, Okaro clocked 54.46, just 0.13 behind British champion Anna Hopkin for silver to book her Olympic debut.
