BRISTOL’S Izzy Thorpe and Kate Shortman made history by bringing home silver medals from the Paris Olympics.
The pair, who have been friends since they were eight years old, are Team GB’s first medallists in artistic swimming after their routine inspired by a rising phoenix earned them Olympic glory.
Both attended Clifton High School. Izzy, 23, from Westbury on Trym, is now a sports rehabilitation student at UWE Bristol while Kate, 22, who also attended Redland High and Redmaids’ High, studies international management and French at the University of Bath.
The swimmers’ mothers Maria Shortman and Karen Thorpe also competed for GB in the sport, then called synchronised swimming. Karen is the GB team performance director.
The swimmers were welcomed back to Bristol by family, friends and neighbours.
Karen told the BBC: “Knowing how much it meant to them, it was really special.
“When they put the medals over their heads I thought wow, we’ve won a medal at the Olympic games, it’s no longer a pipe-dream.”