At the end of July, Sam Reardon was watching the Olympic Games opening ceremony from his bedroom in his family home in South London. As a spectator, he observed the event from the outside. Two weeks later, Sam Reardon was taking part in the closing ceremony with two Olympic medals around his neck—one of the most remarkable sporting stories of 2024.
An Unexpected Medalist
Reardon was never supposed to be in the French capital. Recovering from a hamstring injury earlier in the year, he hadn’t even made the 400m final at the British Olympic Trials, meaning qualification was already out of reach a disappointment that was expected, as he wasn’t even among the country’s top ten sprinters at the time.
A few weeks later, however, he achieved a stunning breakthrough, smashing his personal best by 1.29 seconds to win the 400m ‘B’ race at the London Diamond League with a time of 44.70 seconds. That performance instantly catapulted him to third place in the British rankings for the year, behind Charles Dobson and Matthew Hudson-Smith. But it was already too late the performance came outside the Olympic qualification window, and Team GB had been finalized without him, both in the individual 400m and the relay squad.
Reardon had resigned himself to watching the Games from home. “Sorry, the rules are the rules,” he was told.
Then came a dramatic twist. Charlie Carvell, a member of the British men’s 4x400m relay team for Paris, suffered an injury and was ruled out of the Games. The day after the opening ceremony, while training on the track in Bromley, Reardon received the improbable news: he was being called up as a replacement and was about to experience his first Olympic Games at just 20 years old.
The next day, he landed in Paris, and his dream was about to begin. On the opening weekend of the athletics competitions, he helped Team GB secure a bronze medal in the mixed 4x400m relay, setting a new national record in the process. And on the final night of the Games, he added another bronze medal with the men’s 4x400m relay team, having contributed in the heats. Even though he didn’t run in the final, his effort in the preliminary round helped set a new European record.
Completely Unforeseen Performances
“It was a crazy, whirlwind journey,” said the 20-year-old, who at the time received no funding from British Athletics. “Everything happened so fast, but I tried to savor every moment breaking 45 seconds for the first time, going to the Olympics, racing, winning a medal, then another. I will forever be a double Olympic medalist. I could retire now, and I’d already be fulfilled.”
Yet, his plans for those two weeks had initially been very different. With no international competitions scheduled during the Games, Reardon had planned to focus on endurance training, aiming to improve over 800m a distance in which he finished fifth at the 2022 World U20 Championships. He was set to make his season debut for his club, Blackheath and Bromley, in the National Athletics League. Instead, on that very day, he won the first of his two Olympic medals.
“I really wanted to give back to my club, which has done so much for me,” he explained. “We’re fighting to stay in the first division of the NAL, and I hadn’t competed for them this year. I was really keen to do it but then I got the call.”
A Tribute on the Podium
Reardon’s time on the podium was deeply emotional, particularly during the second ceremony. A minor hip issue kept him from running in the men’s relay final, even though he had competed in the heats. Both times he stood on the podium, he carried a photo of his mother, Marilyn, in his pocket. She had passed away in 2019 from a brain tumor. Diagnosed in 2018, she had always dreamed of seeing her son compete on the biggest stage.
“When we were watching the London 2012 Olympics, I told her I wanted to become an Olympian,” Reardon recalled. “She never doubted that I would make it.”
“I remember her jumping up and down with joy on ‘Super Saturday,’ cheering for Team GB. She was always the loudest supporter when she came to my races.”
“She always said it was her dream to see me on the Olympic stage, and that her life would be complete if she could see me standing on the top step of the podium, singing the national anthem. That’s my ultimate goal to stand there one day and sing for her. But we’re heading in the right direction. I can pinpoint the exact moment my life started to change. One race can transform a career. But I never imagined everything that would follow.”
