Keeping the faith for victory
Watching the world’s best runners at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games will bring inspiration and motivation for Faith to one day fulfil her own Olympic dream
For most young athletics fans, watching the Rio 2016 Olympic Games on TV this summer is as close as they will get to their sporting heroes.
But Faith Price has already shared a track with some Olympic greats, and it has fuelled her own Olympic dreams.
She was selected to run in a junior race at the Anniversary Games in London’s Olympic Stadium last year, where gold medallists from London 2012 were also competing.
Mum Sian says: “Usain Bolt and Mo Farah were taking part in the same event. Some kids were chosen to run with their clubs as part of a relay and Faith was one of them.
“It was the same day, so they were in the warm-up area with all the other athletes like Usain and Mo.
“And they were all competing, so they were all on the same level as them. It was even better than just watching them in the stadium.” Faith adds: “It was amazing to see them so close up.” SPRINTING AHEAD As part of our brilliant Grow Your Champions campaign, in association with the official supermarket partner of Team GB, Aldi, we’re learning about young sportspeople and the remarkable dedication and hard work it takes to succeed, along with the unstinting support of their families. Faith, 12, is one of the country’s brightest young sprint prospects. Her parents Sian, 31, and Gavin 35, a commercial window cleaner, first took her to an athletics club after she left the other children trailing at her infant school sports day, and she has since beaten schoolgirl times set by Dina Asher-Smith, the fastest British woman of all time.
Last year she broke a local school record that had been set by Olympian, Dawn Fraser, 34 years previously. Faith undoubtedly has the potential to make it to the Olympics herself, but she knows it will take years of hard work and dedication to fulfil her dreams. “I want to be a professional runner, and to win medals at the Olympics I know you have to make sacrifices to get to the top,” she says. This summer Faith will be watching the action from Rio 2016 on TV at home with her family, including sister Marni, 10, brother Owen, seven, and baby sister Bella. She will be enjoying the athletics, especially the sprint events, and says watching the world’s best runners will inspire her to keep working towards her own goal of lining up in the Team GB vest at the 2024 Olympic Games. Sian adds: “There are Youth OIympics and Junior World Championships before that.
“That’s when you really find out how you compare to the rest of the country.” Big aMBiTioNS Faith and her family are focused on her sporting dreams, but Faith also has ambitions off the track.
She hopes to study sports science at Loughborough University.
Loughborough has some of the best sporting facilities in the country, and 17 former and current students are in the GB athletics team for Rio, along with another nine who train on campus, including sprint hope Adam Gemili.
Sian says: “It would be the best place for Faith to study and would also help her develop as an athlete.”
Faith is certainly ambitious, but with natural talent, steely determination, and the loving support of her family, few would bet against her achieving all of her dreams.