HE'S done it.
Warrington can celebrate its first gold medal success in Olympic Games history today thanks to the amazing James Guy and his 4x200m freestyle relay teammates.
Former Cardinal Newman High School student Guy, 25, along with Tom Dean, who won the individual gold over the same distance yesterday, Matthew Richards and Duncan Scott produced a glorious performance for Team GB in the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in the early hours of this morning.
They smashed the field, winning by more than three seconds in a European record time.
Final result:
Great Britain 6:58.58
ROC 7:01.81
Australia 7:01.84
United States 7:02.43
Italy 7:03.24
Switzerland 7:06.12
Germany 7:06.51
Brazil 7:08.22
> WATCH: James Guy in tears as he receives his gold medal
>READ: "All I've ever wanted in my life is to win Olympic gold"
Guy, who was crowned Warrington Under 11s Sports Personality of 2007 in recognition of his swimming achievements early on, has now achieved the ultimate prize.
James with his Sports Personality award back in 2007 and his amazing medal collection aged 11
He and his family moved south so that Guy had access to school specialist swimming coaching.
Since then he has become one of the country's most recognised and decorated swimmers, who won two relay silver medals in the Rio Olympics five years ago and has achieved world and European titles.
And now he is our golden boy.
It's only taken 125 years for a Warrington Olympic win.
What a Guy!
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Guy, along with Scott, was part of the team that won silver in the event in 2016, and said: “As a kid winning an Olympic gold medal was my absolute dream and to do it finally after 25 years is pretty emotional.”
He delivered a special leg of this gold medal relay success too.
Dean, who became the first British male swimmer to win more than one gold medal at a single Olympics in 113 years after helping his nation to victory, started the race and actually performed the slowest of the British quartet, with a time of 1min 45.72secs putting them behind the Russian Olympic Committee and the United States after the first 200m.
PICTURES > 10 brilliant celebration pictures as James Guy wins Olympic gold
Dean had produced the performance of his life to triumph in the men’s 200m freestyle 24 hours earlier in a British record time, but this time it was a solid, if unspectacular, start before his team-mates finished the job.
Guy established a narrow lead for the pre-race favourites by the halfway stage with his split of 1:44.40 and despite a sluggish start Richards had taken that lead to more than a second with his 1:45.01.
Scott, whose runner-up finish behind Dean on Tuesday meant he collected his third Olympic silver, then brought it home in emphatic fashion.
Scott told the BBC: “It’s really special with these boys. Matt in third was so composed and the boys up front executed their race plans really well. So close to a world record in the end – if anything I’m a bit gutted!”
Dean said: “I can’t even put it into words. I couldn’t yesterday and I can’t today. I can’t thank these boys enough, from the bottom of my heart. Unreal.”
For 18-year-old Richards, it was his first taste of an Olympic Games, and he said: “When you’re racing with guys like this, having a great leg comes easy. When they set you up as well as they did and you’ve got literally one of the best freestylers in the world and one of the best freestylers ever going behind you, (it’s a) privilege. And the confidence that gives someone, and the experience, money can’t buy it.”
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