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It’s also a golden era of British runners, led in the early and mid-1980s by back-to-back Olympic 1500m gold medallist Sebastian Coe, Moscow 1980 800m gold medallist Steve Ovett and Los Angeles 1984 1500m silver medallist Steve Cram. It’s not only blood relatives that have inspired Wightman as a runner. Picture by 2022 Getty Images Taking inspiration from the greats
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READ MORE: Everything you need to know about these Track and Field World Championships READ MORE: Here’s a look at the daily schedule and highlights READ MORE: Relive Wightman's win on day 5 at the Track and Field Worlds 2022 “So it was something that I suppose wasn’t as big a deal for my family because my mum could always one-up me before then about having gone, because I never had quite done what she’d done.” “I was the third one in my family to go to the Olympic Games," he said with a smile. So while there was no shortage of inspiration when Wightman decided to become a runner, there also wasn’t as much surprise as you’d imagine when he began to excel in the sport. And his aunt, Angela Tooby competed in the 10,000m at the same Olympics in Republic of Korea, having won bronze at the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh two years earlier. Jake's mother Susan Tooby was an Olympian who ran the marathon at the 1988 Games in Seoul. While Wightman says “I drown it out” when asked whether he listens to his dad during races, he might have heard his father's experienced words ringing in his head as he stunned the field in Oregon.Īs well as being his son’s coach, Geoff is a former marathoner who competed for Great Britain at the Commonwealth Games in 1990. “He was my coach since I was about age 15 and then he’s done the stadium announcing at every Olympics since 2012 and all the and then all the World Champs since Beijing 2015.” “My dad has worked in athletics my whole life,” Wightman explained in an exclusive interview with. Wightman’s father Geoff has been a mainstay on the tannoys at the Olympics and World Champs since his son was a teenager, and will once again be the voice of these Track & Field Worlds in Oregon. When the Track & Field World Championships 1500m competition began at Hayward Field in Eugene on Saturday 16 July, the announcer calling out Team GB’s Jake Wightman’s was a familiar one.