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Tom Bosworth

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Tom Bosworth
MBE
Bosworth competing in the Men's 20km Race Walk at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro
Personal information
Birth nameThomas Stewart Bosworth
NationalityBritish
Born (1990-01-17) 17 January 1990 (age 34)
Sevenoaks, England, UK
Height1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight56 kg (123 lb)
Websitewww.tombosworth.com
Sport
CountryEngland, United Kingdom
SportRace walking
Event(s)1mile, 3km, 5km, 10km, 20km
College teamLeeds Beckett Uni
ClubTonbridge AC
Coached byAndi Drake (Peter Selby)
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals6th
World finals7th
Highest world ranking2017 1Mile walk world best and 2018 3km race walk world best (indoor and outdoor)
Personal best1:19:38 for 20k
Medal record
Men's athletics
Representing  England
Commonwealth Games
Silver medal – second place 2018 Gold Coast 20 km race walk
British Championships
Silver medal – second place 2010 Birmingham 5000m race walk
Gold medal – first place 2011 Birmingham 5000m race walk
Silver medal – second place 2012 Birmingham 5000m race walk
Silver medal – second place 2013 Birmingham 5000m race walk
Silver medal – second place 2014 Birmingham 5000m race walk
Gold medal – first place 2015 Birmingham 5000m race walk
Silver medal – second place 2016 Birmingham 5000m race walk
Gold medal – first place 2017 Birmingham 5000m race walk
Gold medal – first place 2018 Birmingham 5000m race walk
Gold medal – first place 2021 Manchester 5000m race walk
British Indoor Championships
Gold medal – first place 2015 Sheffield 3000m race walk
Gold medal – first place 2016 Sheffield 3000m race walk
Gold medal – first place 2017 Sheffield 5000m race walk
Gold medal – first place 2018 Birmingham 5000m race walk
Gold medal – first place 2019 Birmingham 5000m race walk
Gold medal – first place 2020 Glasgow 5000m race walk

Thomas Stewart Bosworth MBE (born 17 January 1990) is a British two-time Olympic race walker who holds three World bests, including the World Best for the 1Mile race walk, 5:31.08.[1]

He also holds six British records, won 13 British Championships gold medals, a silver Commonwealth Games medal[2] and is a World European Olympic Games finalist. Bosworth is currently ranked 1st overall in the UK for 20 km. He was also selected to carry the Olympic Torch through Potternewton, Leeds.

Career

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Bosworth currently trains full-time at the UK Race Walking centre in Leeds, at Leeds Met University.

He holds British records for walking 3 km, 5 km, 10 km and 20 km, with his Personal Best for 20 km at 1:19:38.

He first set the 20 km British record in Dudince, Slovakia in March 2016 to beat a 20 km race walk mark set by Ian McCombie in 1988, clocking 80:41 and taking 81 seconds off McCombie's record.

He is also the British Record Holder for the 10 km race walk, set in 2015, along with the 5000m race walk, set in Birmingham at the 2018 British indoor team trials to qualify for the World Indoor Championships.

Along with the World Record for the 1Mile race walk won at London Diamond League, 2017, Bosworth is World Record holder for the 3000m indoor race walk at IAAF Indoor Grand Prix Glasgow, 2018, and the 3000m outdoor race walk at the Muller Anniversary Games, London, 2018.

He has won six British Outdoor Championships in 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, along with six British Indoor Championships, his first in 2015 followed by 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.

Bosworth qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics[3] after coming second at the 2021 British Athletics Marathon and 20km Walk Trial.[4]

Bosworth was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2024 New Year Honours for services to race walking.[5]

Achievements

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Medals

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Year Competition Event Medal
2010 National Race Walking Championships 20 km (senior men's) Gold
2011 British Championships Outdoor 20 km Gold
2012 Aviva England Athletics U23 Championships & World Trials 10 km Gold
2014 British Championships Outdoor 20 km Gold
2015 British Championships Outdoor 5 km Gold
2015 British Championships Indoor 3 km Gold
2016 British Championships Outdoor 5 km Gold
2016 British Championships Indoor 3 km Gold
2017 British Championships Outdoor 5 km Gold
2017 British Championships Indoor 3 km Gold
2018 British Championships Outdoor 5 km Gold
2018 British Championships Indoor 5 km Gold
2018 Commonwealth Games, Australia 20 km Silver
2019 British Championships Indoor 5 km Gold
2019 European Cup, Lithuania 20 km Team Silver
2020 British Championships Indoor 5 km Gold
2021 British Championships Outdoor 5 km Gold

Records held

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Year Competition Event Time Record
2017 Muller Anniversary Games London 1 mile race walk 5:31.08 World record
2018 IAAF Indoor Grand Prix Glasgow 3 km 10:30.28 Indoor World Record
2018 Muller Anniversary Games London 3 km 10.43.84 Outdoor World Record
2020 British Indoor Championships 5 km 18:20.9 British Record
2020 England Athletics 10k Championships 10 km 39:10 British Record
2018 CWG Gold Coast Australia 20 km 1:19:38 British Record

Personal bests

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Event Time Venue Date Notes
1 Mile race walk 5:31.08 London, United Kingdom 9 July 2017 World Best
3000 metres race walk 10:30.28 i Glasgow, United Kingdom 25 February 2018 Indoor World Best
5000 metres race walk 18:20.20 i Glasgow, United Kingdom 24 February 2020 Indoor
10 Kilometres race walk 39:10.00 Coventry, United Kingdom 1 March 2020
20 Kilometres race walk 1:19:38 Gold Coast, Australia 8 April 2018

International competitions

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Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
Representing  Great Britain
2009 European Race Walking Cup (U20) Metz, France 39th 10 km walk 52:01
2011 European Race Walking Cup Olhão, Portugal 29th 20 km walk 1:32:48
2012 World Race Walking Cup Saransk, Russia 72nd 20 km walk 1:28:43
2013 European Race Walking Cup Dudince, Slovakia 31st 20 km walk 1:27:42
2014 World Race Walking Cup Taicang, China 43rd 20 km walk 1:22:53
European Championships Zurich, Switzerland 12th 20 km walk 1:23:17
2015 European Race Walking Cup Murcia, Spain 16th 20 km walk 1:23:54
World Championships Beijing, China 24th 20 km walk 1:23:58
2016 World Race Walking Cup Rome, Italy 34th 20 km walk 1:22:55
Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 6th 20 km walk 1:20:13
2017 European Race Walking Cup Poděbrady, Czech Republic 4th 20 km walk 1:21:21
World Championships London, United Kingdom — 20 km walk DQ (lifting)
2018 World Race Walking Cup Taicang, China 14th 20 km walk 1:23:54
European Championships Berlin, Germany 7th 20 km walk 1:21:31
2019 European Race Walking Cup Alytus, Lithuania 4th 20 km walk 1:20:53
World Championships Doha, Qatar 7th 20 km walk 1:29:34
2021 European Race Walking Cup Poděbrady, Czech Republic 15th 20 km walk 1:22:27
Olympic Games Tokyo, Japan 25th 20 km walk 1:25:57
Representing  England
2009 EAA Race Walking Permit Race Lugano, Switzerland 8th 10 km walk 45:29
2010 XIX Commonwealth Games Delhi, India 11th 20 km walk 1:30:44
2010 EAA Race Walking Permit Race Bedford, England 7th 20 km walk 1:28:24
2012 EAA Race Walking Permit Race Lugano, Switzerland 28th 20 km walk 1:25:49
2012 EAA Race Walking Permit Race A Coruña, Spain 13th 20 km walk 1:24:49
2013 EAA Race Walking Permit Race Poděbrady, Czech Republic 14th 20 km walk 1:24:44
2014 EAA Race Walking Permit Race Lugano, Switzerland 21st 20 km walk 1:25:45
2014 EAA Race Walking Permit Race Poděbrady, Czech Republic 10th 20 km walk 1:22:20
2015 EAA Race Walking Permit Race Lugano, Switzerland 4th 20 km walk 1:22:33
2018 XXI Commonwealth Games Gold Coast, Australia 2nd 20 km walk 1:19:38

Media and public speaking

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Bosworth has made several media appearances, including his appearance on Sky TV's show “Game Changers”,[6] commentating for the BBC at the 2014 European Athletics Championships, and again for Eurosport at the 2015 World Athletics Championships.

Championing LGBT rights and mental health in sport alongside his athletic career, Bosworth has spoken openly about both.[7]

Bosworth came out as gay on the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire show on 13 October 2015.[8] In the interview he explained that his family, friends and fellow sports athletes had known that he was gay for a number of years, and the coming out was to a wider audience to answer lingering questions from fans and to be himself. In the interview he told the BBC that he had been in "a really happy relationship" for the last four-and-a-half years.[9] He proposed to and was accepted by his now-fiancé, Harry Dineley on Copacabana Beach during the Rio Olympics.[10]

In 2018, he said that he was ready to risk prison to defend LGBT rights in Qatar during the 2019 World Athletics Championships.[11][12]

In publications by the BBC, SkySports[7] and the Telegraph among many others, Bosworth speaks about his mental health and how he overcame a period of depression. Alongside media appearances, he now also regularly visits schools and universities, to talk about his experiences as a professional athlete, LGBT equality, the importance of mental health and how sport can be of great benefit.

He has also spoken to the Culture, Media and Sport parliamentary committee, met with the Chairman of the FA to discuss homophobia in football, written piece for the Times Sport Newspaper on “drugs in sport”,[13] addressed National Governing Bodies on behalf of Sport England and spoken at Wembley for Stonewall F.C.

References

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  1. ^ Lewis, Tim (9 July 2021). "Three Years Ago, Race Walker Tom Bosworth Tried to Take His Own Life. Now He's Competing for Medals at the Olympics". Esquire. Retrieved 30 November 2021.
  2. ^ "Tom Bosworth". Team England. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  3. ^ "Tom Bosworth claims Olympic Games spot". Kent Online. 26 March 2021. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  4. ^ "GB Marathon Trials: Chris Thompson and Stephanie Davis take Tokyo Olympics spots". BBC Sport. 26 March 2021. Retrieved 26 March 2021.
  5. ^ "No. 64269". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 2023. p. N17.
  6. ^ "Sky TV's show "Game Changers"".
  7. ^ a b Williams, Rebecca (2020). "Tom Bosworth: Team GB race walker opens up on sexuality and mental health". Sky Sports News.
  8. ^ "Tom Bosworth: British Olympics hopeful comes out as gay". BBC Sport. 13 October 2015. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  9. ^ "Tom Bosworth & partner Harry Dineley". Tom Bosworth Instagram Account. 13 October 2015. Archived from the original on 24 December 2021. Retrieved 13 October 2015.
  10. ^ Hunt, Elle (16 August 2016). "Olympic marriage proposals continue with Tom Bosworth popping question to boyfriend" – via The Guardian.
  11. ^ "Team GB's only gay athlete ready to risk prison to defend LGBT rights in Qatar". Independent.co.uk. 22 July 2018.
  12. ^ "Openly gay Team GB athlete ready to risk prison defending LGBTQ rights in Qatar". GAY TIMES. 23 July 2018. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  13. ^ Bosworth, Tom (2017). "Drugs in Sport". The Times Newspaper.
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