JACK WHITAKER SELECTED FOR YOUTH OLYMPIC GAMES

Thursday 06 September 2018

JACK WHITAKER SELECTED FOR YOUTH OLYMPIC GAMES

Jack Whitaker has been selected to represent Team GB at the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games.

The 16 year-old from Nottingham, and son of Michael Whitaker,  will compete on a borrowed horse in the showjumping competition. 

All the athletes involved in equestrian event will be introduced to their horses, which have been carefully selected by a group of experts in the months running into the Games, for the very first time on 4 October, just four days before the first competition starts on the 8 October. All athletes will then compete in the Team competition on 8-9 October followed by the Individual competition on 12-13 October.

Jack becomes the third British equestrian athlete to compete at the Games, following in the footsteps of Carian Scudamore (2010) and Jake Saywell (2014). 

He is one of 42 athletes, from 17 of 32 sports on the programme, to selected by the British Olympic Association to represent Team GB at the event which runs from the 6 - 18 October. 

The team consists of athletes aged between 14 and 18 years old, with the Youth Olympic Games (YOG) playing a crucial role in the development of young athletes from the United Kingdom and across the world.

The Youth Olympic Games provides crucial multi-sport experience for aspiring Olympians and Team GB’s class of 2018 will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Tom Daley, Jade Jones and Duncan Scott who all went on to win medals at an Olympic Games having first competed at a YOG. 

Buenos Aires 2018 is expected to welcome just under 4,000 of the world’s best young athletes from 206 nations for the third edition of the Games following Singapore 2010 and Nanjing 2014.

The Games will also make history through its commitment to gender equality by becoming the first Olympic event to host the same number of male and female athletes with 1,999 of each set to compete in Argentina.

Joining the athletes in Argentina will be 62 Athlete Role Models (ARMs) whose presence as Olympians at the Games will be to support, advise and inspire the young athletes.

Double Olympic taekwondo champion and Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic champion Jade Jones will feature as one of two ARMs from the UK with four-time Olympian and Rio 2016 gold medallist Helen Richardson-Walsh joining Jade in Argentina.

Mahdi Choudhury, Team GB’s Chef de Mission for Buenos Aires 2018 said: “Being selected to Team GB for a Youth Olympic Games is a fantastic achievement and our 42 young athletes should be hugely proud to be heading out to Argentina next month.

“Buenos Aires 2018 will offer a fantastic opportunity for our team to experience a multi-sport event for the first time and I’m sure it will act as a great springboard for their own senior Olympic dreams. 

 “Youth Olympic Games such as Buenos Aires offer the chance for young athletes to experience life in an Olympic Village, mix with competitors from different sports and nationalities, and are given the chance to grow as individuals as well as athletes.

 “These events have helped shape the careers of Team GB Olympic stars such as Jade Jones and Tom Daley and we hope the same will be said for this group of young stars.”

Team GB at Buenos Aires 2018: Selected Athletes

Archery
Alyssia Tromans-Ansell, aged 17, from Cannock, Staffordshire
Daniel Thompson, aged 16, from Wrexham, Wales

Badminton
Chris Grimley, aged 18, from Glasgow, Scotland
Grace King, aged 18, from Derby, Derbyshire

Beach Volleyball
Javier Bello, aged 18, from Isleworth, Middlesex
Joaquin Bello, aged 18, from Isleworth, Middlesex

Boxing
Ivan Hope-Price, aged 18, from Leeds, Yorkshire
Hassan Azim, aged 17, from Slough, Berkshire
Karol Itauma, aged 17, from Chatham, Kent
Caroline Dubois, aged 17, from Chelsea London

Cycling: BMX
Ross Cullen, aged 17, from Preston, Lancashire
Elissa Bradford, aged 17, from Nottingham, Nottinghamshire

Cycling: Combined (Road and Mountain Bike)
Sean Flynn, aged 18, from Edinburgh, Scotland
Harry Birchill, aged 17, from Newton Abbot, Devon
Harriet Harnden, aged 17, from Malvern, Worcestershire
Anna McGorum, aged 17, from Peebles, Scotland

Diving
Antony Harding, aged 18, from Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire
Maria Papworth, aged 16, from Coulsdon, Surrey

Equestrian
Jack Whitaker, aged 16, from Whatton, Nottinghamshire

Golf
Joe Pagdin, aged 16, from Sheffield, Yorkshire
Lily Humphreys, aged 16, from Sudbury, Suffolk

Gymnastics: Acrobatic
Clyde Gembickas, aged 18, from Bromley, Kent
Sophia Imrie-Gale, aged 14, from Petts Wood, Kent

Gymnastics: Artistic
Adam Tobin, aged 17, from Bideford, Devon
Amelie Morgan, aged 15, from Portishead, Somerset

Gymnastics: Trampoline
Andrew Stamp, aged 16, from Market Harborough, Leicestershire
Jessica Clarke, aged 16, from Birmingham, West Midlands

Karate
Charlotte Hope, aged 17, from Holland-on-sea, Essex
Lauren Salisbury, aged 16, from Romford, Essex

Modern Pentathlon
Toby Price, aged 17, from York, Yorkshire
Annabel Denton, aged 15, from Plymouth, Devon

Rowing
Michael Dalton, aged 18, from Teddington, Middlesex
Theo Darlow, aged 18, from Thames Ditton, Surrey
Georgina Robinson Ranger, aged 18, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire

Sailing
Islay Watson, aged 17, from Aviemore, Scotland
Finn Hawkins, aged 15, from St Austell, Cornwall

Shooting
James Miller, aged 18, from Epsom, Surrey

Taekwondo
Sharissa Gannaway, aged 15, from Southampton, Hampshire
Aaliyah Powell, aged 15, from Huddersfield, Yorkshire

Triathlon
Calum Young, aged 17, from Glasgow, Scotland
Libby Coleman, aged 17, from Kirkby-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire

Weightlifting
Ellie Pryor, aged 16, from Aberdare, Wales

 
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