Teesside Tornado’s Olympic Medal Now on Display at Airport

Olympic sprinter Richard Kilty has seen his bronze medal take pride of place at his hometown airport.

The Teesside Tornado was part of the medal-winning 4x100m relay team at this year’s Paris Olympics.

And now the Stockton speedster has teamed up with Teesside Airport to put his medal on display to allow the public to share in his outstanding success.

The Middlesbrough-born runner has competed in both Indoor and Outdoor sprint events including 60 metres, 100 metres, and 200 metres – and has been at the top of his sport for a more than a decade.

Among his achievements, Richard was World and European 60 metre champion and a Commonwealth Games champion.

While he isn’t hanging up his spikes just yet, his future ambition is to bring on the next generation of athletes from the north-east who will be able to compete at future Games and competitions.

Richard said: “I’m proud to be a Teessider and Teesside is my favourite airport, so putting the medal on display here for people to see made perfect sense.

“Many family and friends have been with me and helped me through my career, so it’s great to be able to share what it means to more people close to home.

“Everywhere I travel to in the world, I always fly from Teesside to Amsterdam.

“I hope the medal can play its own role in inspiring our own next generation of athletes.”

The 35-year-old’s medal is visible on a stand in the departures area of the airport terminal.

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen added: “We could not be more proud of Richard for bringing a medal back to Teesside.

“He’s had such an illustrious career on the track and it’s a great honour for us to have it him and his medal here at our airport.

“He’s one of our own, a true Teessider, and has always been a great supporter of what we are doing.

“Get yourself down to Teesside Airport to come and see Richard’s Olympic Bronze in person.”