Lily Owsley
The first 10 days of the 2016 Rio Olympics have seen athletes from the School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences past and present excel towards finals and secure medals for Team GB.
Current Sport and Exercise Sciences student, Lily Owsley and Psychology alumna Sophie Bray, have had an epic beginning to their Olympic hockey campaign finishing top of their group unbeaten. Their final match of the preliminaries was against the favourites-for-gold, USA who had also been unbeaten and surpassed Team GB on the medal table with goal difference. The British side’s attack was relentless and despite going 1-0 down, their hunger for the top spot saw them bounce back with two goals, one of which from Sophie Bray. The quarter-final brought more success for Team GB as they beat Spain 3-1 with a goal from Lily Owsley. They now face New Zealand in the semi-final on 17 August. If they are victorious, they go through to the gold medal match.
Unfortunately, Physiotherapy alumna Ciara Horne did not make an appearance on the bike in Team GB’s world-record breaking Olympic campaign. Her teammates broke a world-record in the Team Pursuit during qualifying and then went on to win the gold medal in the final. Despite not racing, Ciara’s teammates commended her contribution to the team’s success in the Olympics.
Over the next week we look forward to seeing how Lily and Sophie progress with Team GB Hockey, whilst medal contender, Sport and Exercise Sciences alumna Non Stanford starts her campaign on 20 August in the Women’s Triathlon.