Londoner thanks travelling Brits for urging him onto sensational Olympic gold
London’s Alex Yee thanked British fans in the crowd for giving him a push after his sensational triathlon comeback on a golden day for Team GB at the Paris Olympics.
The Lewisham athlete trailed New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde by 15 seconds inside the last 1km of the run but produced an astonishing burst to pass him just before the finishing straight.
Yee, 26, is only the second ever double Olympic champion in triathlon after fellow Brit Alistair Brownlee and could yet claim a third gold in the team relay next week.
Just moments later Team GB’s women snatched gold from the Netherlands with a stunning late burst of their own in the quadruple sculls.
Earlier in the morning Beth Potter held on for bronze in the women’s triathlon and the pair of Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix and Lois Toulson matched that in the 10m synchro diving.
The results lifted Team GB to fourth place in the Paris 2024 medal table with six golds, just one behind leaders China, and 16 medals in total on Wednesday lunchtime.
Yee, who won silver in the men’s triathlon and gold in the relay at the Tokyo Olympics, dedicated his spectacular triumph to his supporters lining the streets of Paris.
“I’m a bit lost for words and so grateful to everyone who’s been in my corner for the last three years. That was for them,” he said.
“At 5km I was going through a really bad patch and with 2.5km to go I thought ‘I’m going to give myself one last chance at this and not give up’, and here we are. Anything can happen.
“I am still just that normal guy, I work hard at my sport and I just love what I’m doing. For me it’s amazing I can be in this position and these guys have worked so hard for me.
“They came and they lined the streets and everyone gave me a push today to get to Hayden. I appreciate them for just giving me that push and really extracting everything out of my body.”
Women’s quad sculls team match Yee for Olympic gold – and drama
If Yee’s comeback was dramatic then the women’s quadruple sculls team’s was perhaps even more so as they won gold by just 0.15 seconds.
Trailing the Dutch for the whole race, Hannah Scott, Lola Anderson, Georgie Brayshaw and Lauren Henry looked set for silver until a frantic final 250m.
“It’s been a long time in the making and I still can’t quite believe it. I don’t know if I’m emotional yet but that will come,” said Scott.
“The crew today were amazing. We kept it so cool to the end. We had the confidence, we’ve done so many hard miles in training.
“And for anyone out there: just go for it. If you think you can, you might just do it one day, and that’s the really cool thing about the Olympics.”