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With gold, silver and bronze Olympic medal Liam Heath is the most successful British canoeist at the Olympic Games. “It’s hard to put into words how special it is to represent Team GB. We’re like a massive family and our motto is ‘Once an Olympian, always an Olympian’. We really do live by that. As the defending sprint-canoe Olympic champ, I’m in a good place right now: I feel healthy and I’m injury- free. And I’ve been selected as an athlete for Tokyo 2020,” wrote Heath for the Mirror.

 

 

“After I won a gold medal at Rio 2016, I still had a few.  things on the list I wanted to tick off. In 2017 I won the World Championship, and I became a father that year too. Then in 2018 I started thinking about what I wanted to do next, and how I could do it while supporting a family. It was a really valuable time of reflection for me. I came to realise what my own family had given up to help me achieve my dreams, and how much other people have had a hand in my success,” he said.

 

One of the interesting facts is that Liam designs his own artwork for the boat and paddles, “I studied industrial design and technology at Loughborough University, so I’m really keen on that side of things. I think every boat I’ve ever owned, I actually did the artwork for it. In fact, there are many people who own boats that I’ve taken time and effort into producing.”

 

The studies have actually resulted in Heat leaving the British team, “As a junior athlete, I was clearly talented. But when I was at university, I struggled to both study and train, and my priorities shifted towards my studies. I put my sporting ambitions on hold and dropped out of the British team. It was only then that I realised how much help I’d been given. I hadn’t appreciated that. I had to really fight my way back in.”