Team GB announce athletes selected for Banská Bystrica 2022 European Youth Olympic Festival

Team GB will take a squad of 40 young athletes to compete at the Summer European Youth Olympic Festival (EYOF) taking place in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia from 24 to 30 July 2022. Banská Bystrica 2022 will see around 3,500 athletes and officials represent 48 European nations across 10 Olympic sports. Team GB’s athletes, who will all be aged 13-18 at the event, will compete in five sports: badminton, cycling, gymnastics, judo, and swimming. Athletics, basketball, handball, tennis, and volleyball complete the sporting programme. The full Team GB squad can be found below. EYOFs play an important role in the development of young British athletes, providing crucial multi-sport event experience and guiding them towards realising their Olympic ambitions. Many athletes who have competed for Team GB at a summer EYOF have gone on to compete at an Olympic Games, including Rebecca Adlington (Paris 2003 EYOF), Dina Asher-Smith (Trabzon 2011), Nile Wilson (Utrecht 2013), Amy Tinkler (Utrecht 2013), Tom Pidcock (Tblisi 2015) and more. Leading the Team GB delegation as Chef de Mission at Banksá Bystrica 2022 will be Lizzie Simmonds, who competed in the Lignano Sabbiadoro 2005 EYOF before going on to represent Team GB at the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Olympic Games. She is also the current chair of the British Olympic Association’s Athletes’ Commission. Simmonds said: “Being selected for Team GB for the first time is a real honour and privilege, and I’m sure today marks a very proud moment for the 40 talented athletes that have qualified for Banská Bystrica 2022. “Youth Olympic Festivals are hugely important events, offering young athletes invaluable international competition and the opportunity to gain first-hand experience in a multi-sport environment. Embracing and learning from an experience like this one can be the first step in a journey towards competing for Team GB at a senior Olympic Games. “Having experienced an EYOF myself as an athlete, I'm now looking forward to welcoming a new generation of Olympic hopefuls to Team GB, and supporting them to perform at their best on the European stage this summer.” Ruby Evans (gymnastics) said: “I’m super excited to have been selected to represent my country. Although I’m nervous, I’m very grateful to be given this opportunity and to experience it with my training partner, Evie. “I recently broke my finger so my preparation has been very different to normal - I just want to compete at my best, to experience staying in a village, and to meet new people from different countries that I could possibly compete against in a couple of years’ time as a senior gymnast. “I want to keep progressing and continue competing for my country as it is a great honour. One day I would love to represent Wales at the Commonwealth Games and Team GB at the Olympic Games, so being selected for the EYOF has really inspired me to keep working hard in the gym.” Oscar Bilbao (swimming) said: “I’m very proud to be representing Great Britain at the EYOF, and having just competed at the European Junior Championships in Bucharest, I think I am well prepared to perform my best and hopefully achieve some personal bests!” Charlotte Jenman (judo) said: “It's an amazing feeling to be selected for Team GB at the European Youth Olympic Festival - I still can't believe it's real in all honesty. Due to crowds and people not being able to spectate at many of the previous events when competing abroad I think the atmosphere in the stadium is going to be outstanding and I'm so excited. “Going through this selection process and having to fight for my spot at EYOF was a difficult road but I managed to come out on top and fulfil my dream. I've had a really good year so far, medalling at four out of six European cup competitions with one of them being a bronze at the European Championships. “I'm hoping to go out to Slovakia to bring some fire to the Judo and hopefully take home a medal for GB. It’d be a dream come true.” Banská Bystrica is the 16th edition of the summer EYOF. At the last summer EYOF in Baku, Azerbaijan in 2019, Team GB claimed second place in the medal table with a total of 25 medals, including 11 golds.