Out of England’s nine regions, the North West has claimed the most medals and medalists so far in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
It may have been postponed for a year due to the pandemic, but after nearly two weeks of inspiring and record-breaking sporting action, the Tokyo 2020 Olympics is proving to be a pretty successful Games for Great Britain.
Team GB are currently sitting in 5th place on the international medals table.
As of the end of day 11 of competition on 3 August – already having been dubbed as ‘Super Tuesday’ – 55 English Olympians have come out of at least one event with a place on the podium, and that figure has already climbed as day 12 kicks off.
But the region that has the most to shout about so far is the North West, with 13 out of the 48 Tokyo 2020 athletes born there claiming medals, and when we drill it down even further into counties and city regions, Greater Manchester is the most common place where this year’s medallists were born.
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How brilliant is this?
13 out of the 48 Tokyo 2020 athletes born in the North West have claimed medals so far / Credit: Twitter (@TeamGB) Bolton’s Jason Kenny’s silver medal win yesterday made him Britain’s joint most-decorated Olympian / Credit: Twitter (@TeamGB)
These include Bury swimmer and double gold medallist James Guy, triathlete Georgia Taylor-Brown, BMX cyclist Charlotte Worthington, sailor Stuart Bithell, rower Josh Bugajski, cyclist Jason Kenny, and the most recent medallist – Keely Hodgkinson.
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That’s not the only achievement for the North West at Tokyo 2020 so far either, as in the overall awards too, the region is storming ahead with 17, aided in part by the heroics of multi-medallists Guy, Taylor-Brown, and Cheshire swimmer Luke Greenbank.
Other successful northern counties and regions with multiple medalists so far include Yorkshire and The Humber – West Yorkshire, in particular – and Cheshire.
What an achievement – and with four days of action left, it’s only set to better.
Greater Manchester public urged to help get people ‘off the streets and on their feet’ before Christmas
Emily Sergeant
Locals are being urged to help get hundreds of people “off the streets and back on their feet” this festive season.
As the temperatures told colder by the day, and Christmas creeps closer and closer, Greater Manchester Mayor’s Charity is bringing back ‘1000 Beds for Christmas’, and the massively-important initiative is aiming to provide 1,000 nights of accommodation to people at risk of homelessness before the big day arrives.
Forming part of the ongoing ‘A Bed Every Night’ scheme, this festive fundraising mission is designed to provide food, shelter, warmth, and dedicated vital wrap-around support for those who need it most.
The charity says it wants to build on the “incredible success of 2023”, which raised more than £55,000 and provided 1,800 nights of accommodation.
Stockport-based property finance specialists, Together – which has supported the campaign for the last two years – has, once again, generously pledged to match every public donation for the first £20,000 raised.
Unfamiliar with the ‘A Bed Every Night’ scheme? Since 2017, when rough sleeping peaked, the initiative has helped ensure a significantly-higher rate of reduction in the numbers of people facing a night on streets in Greater Manchester than seen nationally.
The landmark scheme has given people the chance to rebuild their lives, while also giving them access to key services and opportunities that allows them to stay off the streets for good.
Despite the scheme’s recent success, organisations across Greater Manchester are under “a huge amount of pressure” to meet the demand for their services this winter, and given the current economic outlook, household budgets will continue to be squeezed – leaving people on the sharp end of inequality and poverty.
Emily Sergeant -
4th August 2021 
