Last week the London Youth Games celebrated London’s sporting talent at their annual awards. The event highlights the achievements of London Youth Games participants past and present as well as the volunteers who make the Games possible.
Dina Asher-Smith, Britain's fastest woman and former London Youth Games gold medallist, continued her year of success by receiving the Balfour Beatty Breakthrough Award at the 2015 London Youth Games Hall of Fame Annual Awards.
This year has seen Dina take the athletics world by storm. After winning a gold medal in the 100m at the World Junior Championships in 2014, she took silver in the 60m at the 2015 European Indoor Championships. This cemented Dina as the fastest teenager in the world ever and equalled the British record at 60m of 7.08s, set by another former London Youth Games participant, Jeanette Kwakye. Following the Anniversary Games and the recent World Championships, Dina now holds the British Records for both the 100m and the 200m.
Representatives from the 33 London boroughs were awarded prizes to recognise their incredible achievements at the awards. The prestigious ceremony took place at The Globe Theatre and was presented by Britain’s number 1 Alpine Skier, Chemmy Alcott and BBC Sports presenter, Mike Bushell.
The annual occasion saw former competitors who have gone on to achieve sporting success at the highest level officially inducted into the Hall of Fame alongside awards for the individuals and organisations who have contributed to the huge success of this year’s Balfour Beatty London Youth Games. Amongst those being inducted were England’s football heroes, Siobhan Chamberlain and Lianne Sanderson.
This continues an impressive conveyor belt of talent showing ex-LYG alumni are the sporting stars of today. Other recent inductees into the Hall of Fame include double Olympic champion Mo Farah, quadruple Paralympic champion David Weir and Tour de France winner Sir Bradley Wiggins.
Among the crowd of around 280 were senior London and UK politicians, London’s star athletes, representatives of London boroughs and representatives of sporting governing bodies.
London Youth Games Chairman Mark Campbell said: “The Hall of Fame and Annual Awards evening is an opportunity to celebrate and reflect on the incredible achievements of all those associated with the Games, whether they are this year’s record number of 136, 427 participants or those who have participated in the past and gone on to elite success. The Games continues to help all young people who participate to develop vital life skills in order to achieve their full potential.”
“Congratulations to all the individuals and organisations who have made the 2015 London Youth Games the greatest ever, particularly to those shortlisted for awards for their unique contribution to all of our successes.”
The Balfour Beatty London Youth Games is Europe’s largest annual youth sports event. This year the event featured over 136,000 participants from 33 London boroughs taking part in 33 different sports. Wandsworth collected the Jubilee Trophy as the overall winning borough this year.
