Taekwondo world No1 Bradly Sinden wiped away a tear and thanked his mum while kicking himself for missing out on making Olympic history.
Bradly suffered defeat in the dying seconds of his Olympic 68kg final against to Uzbekistan’s Ulugbek Rashitov on Sunday.
It was an agonising end to the 2019 World Champion’s bid to become our first male Olympic champion in the sport.
After securing silver to bring home one of Team GB’s first medals at the Games, along with Chelsie Giles’s Judo bronze he paid tribute to mum Sheryl for backing him as a child.
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She would pay £200 to £1,000 and showed unwavering support whatever the result.
And his other relatives helped by looking after his siblings while they were away.
He said: “To mum, I say thank you for taking me up and down the country, putting the money in. It’s hard, when it’s a single parent background, and not in the best area.
“Not all parents would do that for their child. That’s the belief she had in me. I remember saying, ‘Oh mum, can I just miss training this one time?’, and she’s like ‘no’. “I look back now and thank her for it’.”
Bradly admitted he felt a mixture of pride at his Olympic run and disappointment after reckoning he had let victory slip through his fingers.
He said: “I’ll reflect on it and be proud of what I’ve achieved.
“The gold medal was mine and I did make a mistake. He picked up on it.”
While his family cheered him on together at home, Bradly’s aunt was forced to watch her nephew “in my living room on my own” after being pinged by the NHS app.
Karen Sinden told the BBC: “I got pinged at the beginning of the week, so I’m isolating until Tuesday. It couldn’t have happened at a worse time. But it is what it is.
“Is it worth risking seeing the family? Not really, just in case.
“But I have been dialling into a Zoom call that my sister’s got going on in her living room.
“So I’ve managed to see my niece, my mum and my sister.”
Bradly, from Doncaster, had a thrilling run in the latter stages of the competition.
He pulled off a superb comeback in the semis to beat China’s Shuai Zhao, a champion at the Rio games.
Trailing 16-9 at one stage he eventually powered to a 33-23 victory a series of high kicks and lightning fast moves.
It was a similar story in the final, as he fought back to lead 26–23 with just 43 seconds left.
But his opponent scored with a late attack before celebrating with a victory dance around the ring, carrying the flag of his country. “It was my medal to give away,” Bradly said.
“I was here to get gold, my coach always says the silver is for first loser.
“I made a few mistakes and he got me. The gold was there for me to take.”
Sheryl, who took her son to training twice a week, was “really, really proud” but also devastated for him.
“I know how much he wanted gold,” she said. “He will beat himself up over it, but silver is a massive achievement.
“I was due to be there with his sister, Jodie. We will be there in Paris.”
Bradly’s taekwondo journey began at the age of four when he attended sessions with his elder sister Jodie.
Devoted mum Sheryl used to set off at 5am to drive him to Manchester twice a week for training.
When he won his world title in Bradly said it was his way of repaying her. “I was a hyper-active kid, I couldn’t really sit down,” he recalled.
“I was copying my sister with the kicks until I could start when I was six. The coaches could see I was interested and said if I didn’t misbehave they’d let me have a go.
“I ended up stopping when I was six because my mum had twin brothers. When I was eight I wanted to go back and fell in love with it from there.”
Sheryl had to get his gran to babysit for his twin siblings as his success grew, and Jodie is still involved as a top referee.
He said: “She’s really smart so decided to become a referee and now she’s one of the top 50 in the world.”
Bradly began entering international competitions and went on to win a gold medal at the 2015 Junior European Championships which gave him the belief that he could make it right to the top.
And his family’s support helped carry him there. He said “It’s why when I won the worlds, the main happiness for me was seeing my mum in the crowd. I remember jumping a massive barrier and giving her a big hug. That was my way of repaying her.”
Fellow martial artist Chelsie said winning bronze at the Nippon Budokan, considered the spiritual home of judo in the country which invented the sport was “extra special”.
The 24-year-old from Coventry said: “I believed I could do it, my coach has always believed I could and it showed in today’s performance.
“It’s an amazing arena and to do it where judo started makes it extra special.”
