Team GB medallists from the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games were invited to Buckingham Palace yesterday (Wednesday 2 November 2022) for a reception hosted by Their Majesties The King and The Queen Consort.
Alongside their ParalympicsGB peers, over 80 Team GB athletes met with The King and The Queen Consort, Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal and The Earl of Wessex.
Among the delegation were Eve Muirhead OBE, who won gold at her fourth Olympic Winter Games in Beijing as women’s curling skip; Bryony Page, who claimed her second Olympic medal when she took trampolining bronze in Tokyo; Joe Choong, who secured gold in the modern pentathlon on his Olympic debut; Beth Shriever, who won Team GB’s first ever gold medal in BMX racing; and Emily Campbell, who became the first British woman to win an Olympic medal in weightlifting.
Sir Hugh Robertson, Chair of the British Olympic Association, said: “We are incredibly grateful to Their Majesties The King and The Queen Consort, and our President, HRH The Princess Royal for hosting this reception. It was a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the achievements of our Olympic medallists in Tokyo and Beijing and we look forward to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in under two years’ time.”
Bryony Page said: “It is an absolute honour to be invited to a reception like this. It’s really special to be able to come together in one place with so many other Team GB athletes and reflect on our experiences and achievements in Tokyo and Beijing. It is an absolute privilege to be reunited with everyone in this way and I feel incredibly thankful to The King and The Queen Consort for their generosity.”
Joe Choong said: “It’s really exciting and a huge honour to be invited to meet the Royal Family. When I was preparing for Tokyo I was only thinking about winning that gold medal, and I didn’t really think much about anything else that would come after the achievement itself, so receiving my invite to this reception was one of those really special surprises that I wasn’t expecting at all!”
Beth Shriever said: “If you had told me before we flew out to Tokyo that I’d end up in Buckingham Palace with an Olympic gold to my name I’m not sure I would have believed you! The whole experience was a dream and this is another of those experiences that makes me feel so lucky to be doing what I do, and even more determined to bring everything I have to Paris 2024.”
At Tokyo 2020, Team GB secured a medal haul of over 60 for the third successive summer Olympic Games with a final total of 64, including 22 golds. The postponement of the Games meant a short six-month gap before Beijing 2022, where Team GB's curlers took home gold in the women’s competition and silver in the men’s.
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh hosted a reception for medallists from the Rio Olympic and Paralympic Games in October 2016.