Olympic medal winner Holly Bradshaw arrives home victorious

Team GB medal winners were reunited with their loved ones in emotional scenes as they returned home from the Olympic Games.
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Pole vaulter Holly Bradshaw was among those to touch down at Heathrow Airport on Saturday evening sporting their medals following their success at Tokyo 2020.

Bradshaw, who won bronze in the pole vault, described Tokyo 2020 as “special” despite a lack of spectators due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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IN PICTURES: Olympic bronze medal for Holly Bradshaw in the pole vault
Great Britain's Holly Bradshaw celebrates with the bronze medal for the the Women's Pole Vault Final at the Olympic Stadium on the fourteenth day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in JapanGreat Britain's Holly Bradshaw celebrates with the bronze medal for the the Women's Pole Vault Final at the Olympic Stadium on the fourteenth day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan
Great Britain's Holly Bradshaw celebrates with the bronze medal for the the Women's Pole Vault Final at the Olympic Stadium on the fourteenth day of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Japan
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She told PA: “I think every Olympics is different anyway but this has felt very different in that it’s all about the performance and not about going out and exploring or anything like that.

“You just trained and came home and you had to be super on it with hygiene. But I think it’s been a really, really good Games and Japan did a really good job to make it feel special even though there was no one there.”

The 29-year-old, who finished sixth at London 2012 and fifth in Rio, said her bronze medal meant a lot as it was something she had “wanted for so long”.

Preston-born Holly Bradshaw admitted she considered quitting the pole vault before clinching bronze to make British Olympic history in Tokyo this week.

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The 29-year-old Euxton ace finished behind the USA’s Katie Nageotte and the ROC’s Anzhelika Sidorova on Thursday.

She is the first British athlete to win a pole vault medal at an Olympic Games.

But when she came sixth at the World Championships in London 2017, a combination of personal doubts and social media criticism left her thinking about walking away.

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