Brilliant bronze for Loughborough’s history maker Bradshaw

Loughborough’s Holly Bradshaw has made history by becoming the first-ever British person to win an Olympic pole vault medal.

In a thrilling final at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, Bradshaw cleared 4.85m to make the podium.

Bradshaw – a current student at Loughborough University – was competing in her third Olympic Games and has now written her name in UK athletics’ record books.

Katie Nageotte of the United States won gold (4.90m), whilst the Russian Olympic Committee’s Anzhelika Sidorova claimed silver with fewer faults than Bradshaw (4.85m).

Bradshaw spoke to BBC Sport:

"This is what I've worked for my whole career, I've had so many ups and downs," Bradshaw tells the BBC. "It's something that I've wanted so bad and it's finally happened.

"It's not sunk in, I don't know what to say, I'm almost emotionless because I don't know what emotion this is that I'm feeling. It's relief, pure enjoyment and excitement. I'm proud of myself for sticking with it.

"I knew I could get there one day and I just can't express how grateful I am to be involved in this sport and to finally get an Olympic medal, I can't believe it."

Prior to the Games, Bradshaw told Loughborough Sport that her “only goal going into the Olympics is to produce a medal-winning performance, so, somewhere between 4.80m and 5.00m, and if that’s good enough for a medal – great.”

Loughborough-linked total medals at the Olympic Games now stands at eleven – three golds, five silvers, and three bronze medals.

Notes for editors

Press release reference number: 21/162

Loughborough University

Loughborough is one of the country’s leading universities, with an international reputation for research that matters, excellence in teaching, strong links with industry, and unrivalled achievement in sport and its underpinning academic disciplines.

It has been awarded five stars in the independent QS Stars university rating scheme, named the best university in the world for sports-related subjects in the 2021 QS World University Rankings and University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times University Guide 2019.

Loughborough is in the top 10 of every national league table, being ranked 7th in the Guardian University League Table 2021, 5th in the Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2020 and 7th in The UK Complete University Guide 2022.

Loughborough is consistently ranked in the top twenty of UK universities in the Times Higher Education’s ‘table of tables’ and is in the top 10 in England for research intensity. In recognition of its contribution to the sector, Loughborough has been awarded seven Queen's Anniversary Prizes.

The Loughborough University London campus is based on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and offers postgraduate and executive-level education, as well as research and enterprise opportunities. It is home to influential thought leaders, pioneering researchers and creative innovators who provide students with the highest quality of teaching and the very latest in modern thinking.

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