News

The missing faces of Rio 2016

August 7, 2016 Rhianna Madden-Hansle

With the Rio 2016 athletics schedule kicking off in just under 5 days, there will be no Russian athletes gracing our television screens. This follows the revelation of a ‘state-sponsored doping programme’ that allegedly spanned for four years, beginning after the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. After assessing the evidence, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) recommended a blanket ban for all Russian athletes from the Olympic Games, meaning that none of the 389 Russian athletes would be allowed to take part in any of the 28 Olympic sports. However, since this […]

News

Dina Asher-Smith: History Maker and History Student

July 27, 2016 James Findon

In 2012 Dina Asher-Smith was a ‘kit carrier’ at the London Olympic Games. Now, she’s heading to Rio as Britain’s fastest ever woman. Asher-Smith holds the British record in the 60m, 100m and 200m. Last month, she broke another record when she became the first ever Brit to win the 200m in the European Championships. And if that wasn’t enough, she helped the GB 4X100 relay team to a new British record of 41.81secs as they stormed to victory at the Anniversary games last Friday. Dina followed Asha Philip and Desiree Henry on the […]

News

Adam Gemili eyes up relay gold

July 26, 2016 James Findon

The former UEL student is confident of an Olympic medal. At just 22, Rio will be Adam Gemili’s second Olympics. In his first, London 2012, he came within just 0.04 seconds of qualifying for the 100m final in front of a home crowd. Now, his focus will be the 200m at Rio. At his final test ahead of the Games, Gemili looked strong, racing with Bolt at the Anniversary games, in an exciting race which saw him finishing 3rd. “It’s crazy that I’m going to the Olympics again,” said Gemili, […]

News

Records tumble as Bolt lights up Muller Anniversary Games

July 24, 2016 Emma Butcher

The British Athletics Anniversary Games 2016 took place on the 22nd-23rd July at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London. This was, for many athletes, a final opportunity to prepare for the Rio Olympics (see our feature here on the London athletes heading to Rio), or to show why they should have been on the Olympic team. An outstanding result from the first evening was the World Record in the women’s 100m hurdles (see the BBC footage here). Keni Harrison of America pulled away from the rest of the field to win […]

News

We’re going to Rio!

July 21, 2016 James Findon

Meet the nine current and former London students (and one staff member) heading to Rio. Last week, UKA announced the full team of athletes heading to Rio to represent team GB at the summer Olympics. Now, we’re just two weeks away from the start of the games. UK Sport has set a target of 48 medals, with between 7 and 9 expected from athletics. So who are these athletes entrusted in bringing home the gold? Here, we profile the nine current and former students of LUCA universities (and one staff member) […]

Inspire

The story of Lorn Mayers

May 1, 2016 James Findon

Lorn Mayers was on route to become a British NFL giant, but now he could be heading to Rio after reaching the qualifying standard for the F42 Shot Put. Mayers was spotted by NFL Europa scouts at a GB American Football practice session in 2005. After attending a testing day, he was invited to spend four days at a training camp in Tampa, Florida. Mayers had to take time off from his job as a deliveryman for Argos to attend the camp. After four days, coaches wanted him to stay and join Berlin Thunder for […]