Golden girl: City victory parade did us proud
ROCHDALE’S golden girl Nicola White has hailed ‘noisy’ Manchester for doing her proud at the city’s Olympic victory parade.
The 28-year-old, from Littleborough, played a pivotal role in grabbing glory for Team GB’s women’s hockey team in Rio, including scoring a vital equaliser against the Netherlands in the final.
Nicola was thrilled when it was announced the homecoming parade was to be held in the north of the country and says Manchester didn’t let her down.
She said: “It was so good, I really enjoyed it. It was really nice to come back to Manchester and share it with people up here. Normally a lot of things are down in London and a lot of athletes on the day said that it was really nice to come back here and share our medals and experiences with people.
“The reaction was so good, the noise in Albert Square was so good, I thought ‘yes well done Manchester.’ I wasn’t sure how it was going to be but it was brilliant - apart from the weather!”
But despite all the noise, Nicola was still able to pick out and wave at all her friends and supporters lining the streets of the city to welcome her home.
She said: “So many people turned up, I didn’t think they would, I didn’t think I’d be able to spot them but when I came past I could hear them screaming my name.
“I spotted a couple near the start and a couple half way round near Harvey Nicks and my family were there at Albert Square. They all did really well texting me where they’d be. And some people from Rochdale had a big banner for me and I was waving at them.”
It was also the first time since leaving Rio that Nicola has had the chance to catch up with her team mates.
“That was so fun,” she said. “You know what it’s like when a group of girls get together, as soon as we got back together we are up to same tricks, having a laugh, loads of jokes going round as usual, it was almost like when we finished in Rio, like a huge party.”
Nicola, who also won Bronze at the London 2012 Olympics says Manchester also outdid London for noise.
She said: “It was a bit different to London, it just had a bit more atmosphere, maybe because the parade went through the city on floats there was a bit more excitement.”
Nicola is taking time out to recover ‘mentally and physically’ before deciding whether to her sights on the next Olympics in four years time.