Golden night in Paris as Bath swimmers Tom Dean and Kieran Bird help Team GB defend freestyle relay title in magnificent fashion
Tom Dean And Kieran Bird Lead Team GB To Victory In Paris Night Swim
Tom Dean secured his third Olympic gold medal while Kieran Bird achieved his first, as they both contributed to Team GB's victory in the men's 4x200m freestyle event at Paris 2024. The University of Bath-based swimmers put on an impressive display to defend their title.
Dean, along with Duncan Scott, James Guy, and Matt Richards, won Great Britain's first gold medal in swimming at the Paris La Defense Arena. They had previously trained together at the Aquatics GB Bath Performance Centre.
The group has been the top performers at the competition in the past few years, taking home the first place prize at both the postponed Tokyo Games in 2021 and the 2023 World Championships in Japan.
Bird, who has also been training at the Team Bath Sports Training Village since 2018, won a gold medal along with Jack McMillan. They teamed up with Guy and Dean to make great progress in the earlier heats.
Dean and Bird, who were trained by David McNulty and Jamie Main, achieved victory tonight. This win brings the total number of medals won by swimmers from Bath Performance Centre at the last four Olympic Games to 15.
Bird is the twelfth athlete to win an Olympic gold medal while training at the University of Bath, which is recognized by UK Sport as an Elite Training Centre.
Stephen Baddeley, who is in charge of sports at the University of Bath, expressed his congratulations to Tom, Kieran, their fellow team members, and coaches for their impressive accomplishment. It can be very stressful to compete as defending champions and top contenders in the Olympics, but they handled the pressure well and performed exceptionally when it counted the most.
Tom embodies the role of Olympic Champion with grace - he is kind, committed, and always there for the University both in and out of the water. He truly motivates everyone at the Team Bath Sports Training Village. A huge congratulations to Tom on winning his third Olympic gold medal.
We are very happy for Kieran, who did an amazing job in the preliminary races. He started training at the Bath Performance Centre in 2018, alongside Tom, and it's great to see his efforts pay off. Big congrats to their coaches, David and Jamie, and everyone else at the centre. We are proud to have them training with us.
"It's been a great day with this win, especially after Prisca Awiti-Alcaraz's amazing silver medal in judo and Becky Wilde making it to the final in her first Olympics. Well done to all!"
Dean is set to compete in the 200m individual medley heats at 11am BST on Thursday. The final for this event will take place at 7.43pm BST on Friday, August 2nd. Dean will be back in the pool for these important races.
Image courtesy of Sam Mellish from Team GB.
