Great Britain’s Olympic gold medal-winning climber Toby Roberts has said winning in Paris was the “proudest moment” of his life.
The 19-year-old took the Olympic title in the men’s boulder and lead after beating Japan’s Sorato Anraku – who was the favourite going into the event.
The win came as a tremendous surprise to Roberts, who said he was “incredibly happy” to bag the silver when Anraku fell off the wall before reaching the gold-medal mark.
“When he fell off, I turned to my coaches for confirmation and just thought ‘wow, I have just achieved my dream’,” Roberts said, adding: “That’s when all the emotions rush in. It was the proudest moment of my life.”
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Nicknamed “The Terminator”, his win marks Team GB’s first ever gold medal in the sport climbing category, which was introduced in Tokyo three years ago.
Having always had a passion for climbing, Roberts told Sky News that he found the sport at the age of seven and was “instantly hooked”.
Aged only 10, he became the youngest Briton to scale one of the UK’s most popular climbs – the 8a Raindogs route at Malham Cove in North Yorkshire.
Roberts said that even his family became involved in the sport, with his dad Tristan remaining his coach to this day.
“During the COVID lockdown [my dad] built a home climbing wall in the garden,” Roberts said, describing his “incredibly supportive parents”.
“I did some of my best training that year, some of the biggest gains of my life [happened] during that year.”
When quizzed on his future, having achieved his dream at such a young age, Roberts said he will “take a breather” before setting his sights on the 2028 LA Olympic Games.
‘Feels like a dream’
Another British athlete whose journey at the Paris Games ended with a spot on the podium is heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson.
Securing a silver medal for the event – which involves seven different track-and-field events across two days – Johnson-Thompson said the win “feels like a dream”.
Paris was the 31-year-old’s first medal over four Olympic Games, and she led the way for much of the two-day competition.
But after the javelin throw on Friday morning, the Liverpudlian found herself second to Belgium rival Nafissatou Thiam, needing to beat her by a margin of over eight seconds in the 800 metres.
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“For me having a chance at gold is everything,” Johnson-Thompson told Sky News. “As a heptathlete, when you get into that 800m, everything is possible, and I was really happy that I had that moment to try.”
The athlete finished second fastest in the final event and nearly six seconds ahead of Thiam, who secured an unprecedented third Olympic heptathlon title by a mere 36 points.
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When asked how she felt after the race, Johnson-Thompson said: “[The] instant emotion is relief. Luckily we get to do a victory lap and see the crowd and I definitely got emotional during the end.
“I am so glad this ended in happy tears.”
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The athlete said she now plans to celebrate with “pizza and wine” and catching up on sleep, having not had much in the past few days during the competition.
