TAMESIDE’S Georgia Taylor-Brown overcame a flat tyre to capture Olympic Games silver in the women’s triathlon.
And there may be another medal for the 27-year-old, who was raised in Droylsden, on Friday when she competes for Team GB in Tokyo in the relay.
The only disappointment for Georgia was her parents Darryl, who lives in Sale, and Droylsden-based Beverley were unable to travel to Japan through Covid-19.
Daryl, a tutor at Bolton College, and Beverley, who works in HR, had both cashed in part of their pensions to make a once-in-lifetime trip to the Olympics before the decision was made to ban spectators from overseas.
They had to watch the triathlon from their respective homes in the early hours of Tuesday (July 27).
Darryl said: “It was edge of the seats viewing and very tiring for us, and we weren’t even doing the triathlon.
“It was amazing when Georgia became a world champion last year, but this has been another level in terms of the attention it has received. She has been inundated with well wishes.”
Georgia has certainly inherited the competitive gene from her parents who met while competing for Sale Harriers with Darryl a former Great Britain international middle-distance runner.
And Darryl revealed that Georgia, aged 10, produced a PowerPoint in which she said she wanted to go to the Olympic Games and win a medal.
He said: “We have three children who all took part in sport, but we realised when she was about 13/14 that she was a special talent.
“Georgia has had an illustrious career in triathlon, but this is the pinnacle.”
There was drama in the individual triathlon as, after a fine swim, the former Fairfield High School and Ashton Sixth Form College student lost 22 seconds after suffering a puncture in the final lap of the cycling to leave her fifth.
In the final run, Georgia bridged the gap to bronze in little more than a kilometre and caught USA’s Katie Zaferes with a lap to go to claim a remarkable medal on her Olympic debut – just weeks after being injured in the build-up to the Games.
Georgia, who began running with East Cheshire Harriers, said: “It’s strange to come to an Olympic Games not having raced since last September. I kept it all a bit private, what was going on.
“I got a stress response in my femur 12 weeks ago. My training had gone so well before then though, so that was a bit of a shock, but I knew I had all that training in the bag.
“I wanted to keep it private, you don’t want to show your competitors your weaknesses, so I said I was ill. I’ve had six weeks of building my running back again.
“It was not perfect, it’s not what I wanted or what anyone would want. I got myself into a really good position and I was as fit as I could have been on the start line.
“About a week before we flew out, I had to prove I was fit to compete, which was probably more stressful because it could have been taken away from me.
“I proved I was fit, ready to go and did more than they asked me to do. I had to go in relaxed and that I’d done everything I possibly could, and I left everything out there.”
Bermuda’s Flora Duffy went clear to win gold by a margin of 74 seconds.
Georgia reflected: “I didn’t have the speed that Flora had, but I’m more than happy with silver.
“Without the injury I think I could have hung in there and maybe given her a bit more of a race. I think I’ve handled it very well and I’m proud to have got on the start line.”
