Waking up as Champions

Tuesday 16th July 2013

Roomie Love with our medals

This is definitely a feeling I’m going to relish, waking up as a gold medallist is an experience I have never been through before but the wait has definitely been worth it. Our journey was complete and we had achieved all we had set out to achieve and we could sit back and delight in our achievements.

We love your messages of support

I just wanted to say a quick thank you to everyone who sent messages of support, texts, and tweets for last night’s game. The backing we have had as a whole squad has been unbelievable and I can’t say thank you enough. During our time in Kazan we have created a message board which has been a constant form of encouragement where daily we can see all of those supporting us and cheering us on from home. The support is invaluable so thank you, you know how you are. But a thank you must also go to the other Team GBR athletes who have made time to attend our games and support us. Your chants, shouts and encouragement is heard and felt by all on the pitch and it has been the 12^th player we have needed. Thank you so so much. I'm proud to be a part of Team GB with you all.

Cheeky little pose with my gold medal

To kick start the day we had our last ever recovery session as a team, which for this rare occasion Luke let us do it in the sun. Now we had finished the tournament we wanted to make the most of the weather so shorts were on, sleeves rolled up and the stretching commenced in a grass area outside our block. I was (and still am) determined to go back to the UK with a tan especially as if appears those at home have been experiencing a bit of a heat wave. A quick shower, hair done and make-up on and it was time for our official BUCS individual winner’s photos where we could proudly stand with our cheesiest grins and pose with our medals.

Our afternoon was filled with watching other sports and events that were still taking place around the village. As our schedule since arriving in Kazan has been pretty busy it’s been hard to watch some sports which are off-site as our days off, well rest days, are spent mainly recovering and having our feet up. But today we had the chance to watch both the basketball, where USA was playing Finland followed by a trip to watch the boys in their Final later against France.

USA in action against Finland

The evening came and we were soon boarding the bus to go and cheer on the boys. One of the great things about being part of Team GBR is the support and backing you get from all other athlete’s in the team. We have had some great support which helped us on our quest for gold and we wanted to return the love by supporting as many other games as possible. Arriving at the game there were queues waiting to get into the ground and it was set to be a definite sell-out. Given how gripping their semi-final vs Russia was, I am not surprised and we couldn’t wait to cheer our boys on.

Team GB fan club

As with our game the nerves were showing and the boys had a bit of an edgy first half and found themselves 1-0 down at half-time. The second-half started more brightly with some great attacking play but an unfortunate bounce of the ball deflected off one of our players and the boys soon found themselves 2-0 down. This was not going quite to plan but we had faith that if they could show some of the determination and fighting spirit which brought them through the semi-final then they could get back into the game. They fought hard, chances were created and they didn’t give up. Soon they were back in it, 2-1, game on. To make it even more challenging, another debatable second yellow card saw the boys team go down to 10 players. If they were going to win this game they would have to do it with 10 players, they’ve done it before and tonight they would have to do it again.

You couldn't have written this

It was nearing 90 minutes and the French weren’t going to give up on this one easily. Could they pull it back? We hoped so, chanting and cheering at the top of our lungs, we done all we could to push them. 90 minutes came and the 4^th official’s board went up, 3 added minutes. 3 minutes to get a goal and get back into the game. And wow they done it, I don’t know how, but they did. 2-2, what a game this was turning out to be! We went crazy, well as much as we possibly could seeing as we were all losing our voices, it was quite a moment. Extra-time it was!

A tense half hour followed as both teams pushed for a goal and if GB would hold out they game would be theirs. But it wasn’t to be as France managed to score in the second half of extra time and there wasn’t quite enough left in the tank for the GB boys to pull it back. 3-2 it finished. What an incredible match, each and every one of the lads should be proud of themselves. They fought until the end, and although not quite what they would have wished for, they leave the tournament as silver medallists. They are a credit to themselves as well as Team GBR.

A night of letting our hair down and celebrating was to follow. Four weeks ago we set out on a journey to win gold and we sit here having achieved that; it would be rude not to take the evening to relax and enjoy. I have a feeling it could be a late one so let the celebrations begin…

Let the celebrations begin. I love my teamies :)