Scots ready for European Youth Olympic Festival

 

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Ten Scots are part of a 50-strong Team GB that is heading off to the Győr 2017 European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF).

The Festival will see around 3,000 athletes from 50 European nations come together to compete across 10 Olympic sports from July 23 to 29.

Team GB’s athletes, who are all aged between 14 and 17, will compete in six of those sports, canoe sprint, cycling, gymnastics, judo, swimming and tennis.

Athletics, basketball, handball and volleyball complete the sporting programme in Hungary.

Fifteen-year-old swimmer Archie Goodburn from Edinburgh is very excited about the opportunity.

Archie Goodburn

At the Scottish National Swimming Age Group Championships in Glasgow last year the Stewart’s Melville School pupil burst onto the scene when he won nine golds and two silvers.

Then at the same event this year in Aberdeen he helped his club Warrender Baths Club be named Top Team and then posted a Scottish junior record in the 50m breaststroke in a time of 29.92 at the Scottish National Open Swimming Championships.

“I am feeling good, training has been going well and some of my swimming at the recent Scottish National Open Swimming Championships has left me in a good place,” Archie said.

“Since school finished for the summer I have been training very hard and really getting focused as the chance to represent Team GB does not come around every day.

“I am looking forward to being part of a multi-sport event and giving it my all.”

Judo is thriving in Scotland at the minute and there are six judoka in the team from north of the border.

Oliver Park

Oliver Park from Netherton in North Lanarkshire is one of those.

The 16-year-old, who is based at the Hibari Ken Judo Club in Larkhall, said:  “This event is going to be really exciting because it will show me the level of competition there is out there.

“I have loved judo since I took it up and like competing against better opponents and trying to make myself better.

“The coaches I have worked with over the years have been great and I just want to go out there and do them and my family proud because they have supported me the whole way.”

His team mate Ryan Turnbull, the 17-year-old from Dunfermline, believes competing at a top level event in South Africa will help him heading into this meet.

Ryan Turnbull

Last April he won the silver medal at the Commonwealth Cadet Judo Championships held in Port Elizabeth and said:  “That was a tough meet, but I battled my way through it and I think it gave me a good idea of what to expect going forward in big events.

“To represent Team GB with a number of other Scots is great and I am buzzing for this opportunity, hopefully we can go there and come back with some good results.”

Scots in Team GB

Cycling

Alfie George 16, from Abernyte

Gymnastics

Pavel Karnejenko, 17, from Hamilton

Judo

Aaron Miller, 17, from Wishaw

Imogen Walls, 16, from Melrose

Josie Steele, 16, from Inverness

Oliver Park, 16, from Netherton

Ryan Turnbull, 17, from Dunfermline

Tomi Imrie, 16, from Livingston

Swimming

Archie Goodburn, 15, from Edinburgh

Charlie Hutchison, 15, from Castle Douglas

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