The excitement of the Olympics has been brought home to Westbury on Trym with glorious silver medals around the necks of Izzy Thorpe and Kate Shortman, childhood friends whose success at Paris 2024 has earned them a place in artistic swimming history, securing the sport’s first-ever Olympic medal for Great Britain.
The swimmers were welcomed back to Bristol by proud family, friends and neighbours after their success on August 10.
Later they made a splash with a surprise visit to staff and patients at Bristol Children’s Hospital. The pair were presented with golden Gromit statuettes by the hospital chariy The Grand Appeal.
Kate and Izzy are former Clifton High School pupils who have swum together since the age of eight. Their success is a culmination of years of gruelling training and commitment. Izzy, 23, who is studying sports rehabilitation at UWE and Kate, 22, a student of International Management and Modern Languages (French) at University of Bath, train relentlessly at Hengrove Leisure Centre, up to 10 hours a day, six days a week, with a regime that also includes yoga, gymnastics and video analyses, as well as spending minutes at a time submerged.
They are following their mothers, Maria Shortman and Karen Thorpe, who competed internationally as synchronised swimmers in the 1980s, before the sport became known as artistic swimming. Karen Thorpe is now the GB team performance director.
Izzy and Kate hope that their success will provide a boost to the sport and inspire the next generation to pursue their dreams too.
“Hopefully it’s inspired a lot of athletes,” Izzy said.