Bradshaw celebrates finally winning her first — and also Britain’s first ever — Olympic medal in the pole vaultFrom lockdown sessions in an underground car park, with a stick crowned by a tin of beans, to a momentous vault into the Tokyo night sky, the story of Holly Bradshaw has always been one of ups and downs. The 29-year-old Blackburn pole vaulter won an Olympic bronze medal to end years of near-misses, self-doubt, a LinkedIn search for a sponsor and her master’s dissertation on the post-Olympic blues. “I was queen of fourth, fifth and sixth,” she said. “But finally I’ve done it.”SponsoredHer Olympic odyssey started when she was a rising star at London 2012. She finished sixth, but had jumped 12 centimetres above the gold-medal mark in January of that year.

Source: The Times August 05, 2021 13:10 UTC