Rio Heroes: Thousands line streets of Leeds for homecoming parade
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Medal-clad athletes including Leeds’s Alistair and Jonny Brownlee, Kadeena Cox and Jack Laugher are among a host of stars who the city centre on open-top buses to celebrate in their home city.
Adoring fans waved and cheered on the region’s sporting heroes as the buses set off at 5.15pm from Leeds Civic Hall.
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Hide AdYorkshire rowers Andy Triggs Hodge, Tom Ransley and Paul bennett, Calderdale’s wheelchair sprinter Hannah Cockroft and Leeds Paralympian David Stone also joined in the Rio Heroes celebration parade.
And dancers from the West Indian Carnival, performers Band of the King’s Division, West Yorkshire Police Band and Handmade Samba Band entertained fans during the parade to add to the atmosphere.
The parade comes after TeamGB secured an incredible 67 medals at the Olympics in Rio - 14 of which were won by athletes from Yorkshire.
It also celebrated the success of the region’s Paralympic stars, who helped the nation’s squad reach a haul of 147 medals in Rio.
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Hide AdOther athletes who featured on the star-studded list of parade participants included Paralympic cycling pilot double gold medallist Adam Duggleby, swimmer Jonathan Booth and bronze medal gymnast Nile Wilson.
Leeds Olympic bronze medalist Nile Wilson said the parade would be a “special moment” for him.
He said: “I’m a Yorkshire lad born and bred and I have lived in Leeds my whole life. The parade is to give something back to the supporters and fans, we couldn’t have done it without them.”