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| Human Interest | |
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Sport Specific Information | |
| Club / Team | Tonbridge Athletic Club: England |
Further Personal Information | |
| Higher education | Nutrition, Sports Science - Leeds Metropolitan University: England |
Sport Specific Information | |
| Name of coach | Andi Drake [personal], GBR |
Further Personal Information | |
| Residence | Leeds, ENG |
Sport Specific Information | |
| Why this sport? | His sister competed in race walking and introduced him to the sport. "I tried different events and as my sister did race walking I tried that out about a year later [at age 12] and I've been race walking since." |
General Interest | |
| Ambitions | To win a medal at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. (telegraph.co.uk, 05 Oct 2019) |
Sport Specific Information | |
| Training Regime | He walks a half marathon distance every day. |
| When and where did you begin this sport? | He took up athletics at age 11 at Tonbridge Athletic Club in England. He began race walking around one year later. |
Further Personal Information | |
| Occupation | Athlete |
| Languages | English |
General Interest | |
| Other information | MENTAL STRUGGLES In 2019 he spoke about his struggles with mental health after being disqualified from the 20km race walk at the 2017 World Championships in London, England. "I was in that bubble of failure. I was going out partying and I was pushing my family away. I was treating [his partner] Harry awfully. He'd seen me come from a very average athlete to winning races and competing at the highest level. And I treated him the worst of anybody. I didn't realise how far away from me I was getting, how I was digging myself into some awful holes. After a couple of attempts to take my own life, Harry said, 'You need to phone British Athletics doctors and get some help'. If he hadn't forced me to do that, I don't know if I would have been here or carried on with life. The Olympics [2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro] had gone so well the year before [sixth place finish], I didn't even comprehend the worlds going so badly and it took its toll. The awareness of mental health is massive now and I was fortunate to get the support I did, but it took me a long time to process it and then ask for help." (outsports.com, 05 Dec 2019; bbc.co.uk, 03 Sep 2019) COMING OUT In late 2015 he chose to reveal that he is gay, and has since been appointed as an ambassador for the British charity Stonewall and for the US-based non-profit organisation Athlete Ally, which aims to end homophobia and transphobia in sport. "When I was competing in local athletics a number of years ago, some other athletes called me 'fag' or 'queer'. Thankfully, they were in the minority." He says attitudes have improved since then, and his Great Britain teammates, including Mo Farah, have been supportive. "I got to know [Farah] and others on the Great Britain endurance team prior to the world championships [in 2015]. It was a great chance to talk about it in a relaxed environment and everyone was very supportive of me being the first openly gay athlete on the GB team. It shows you that if someone of Mo's stature can be supportive then there should be no issues from others. All I want to do is give a positive message that you can succeed in sport whatever your background, be it gay, straight, black, white, religious or non-religious - there are no barriers." (bbc.com, 13 Oct 2015; Twitter profile, 07 Jun 2020; athleticsweekly.com, 19 Apr 2015) EDUCATION After completing a degree in sport performance from Leeds Metropolitan University in 2012, she completed a post-graduate course in sport exercise nutrition from the same university in 2014. (tombosworth.com, 16 Feb 2016; athleticsweekly.com, 19 Apr 2015) MULTI-TALENTED He is a qualified trampolining coach and sports masseur. He has undertaken freelance sports massage therapy work to help fund and support his race walking career. (bbc.co.uk, 13 Oct 2015; tombosworth.com, 16 Feb 2016) |
| Hobbies | Going to the cinema. (Instagram profile, 27 May 2020) |
| Injuries | He was affected by persistent back injuries in the late 2010s. (telegraph.co.uk, 23 Feb 2020) |
Further Personal Information | |
| Family | Partner Harry |