JAMES Guy is celebrating his first Olympic Games medal this morning.

The 20-year-old former Cardinal Newman High School and Our Ladys Catholic Primary School pupil brought the Team GB 4x200m freestyle relay team home to a silver medal in dramatic style in Rio.


 





Guy, in his third final of a busy week that still has the 100m fly and 4x100m medley relay to come, helped the world-champion quartet to storm back in a thrilling last leg as he reeled in bronze medallists Japan in the final 50 metres.

Jubilant scenes at the end saw Guy embracing USA fourth-leg swimmer Michael Phelps, who won his 25th Olympic medal, before he did a little jig at poolside.

He said afterwards he just wanted to make his country proud, following his sixth and fourth places in the 400m and 200m finals,

"Every time I've raced this week I've got faster and faster and that just shows if you put your mind to something then anything can happen," said Guy, who lived in Stockton Heath before earning a scholarship at specialist sports school Millfield in Somerset at the age of 12.

"For me it was about racing for my country and doing my country proud.

"I've come away with a silver medal and if four years ago someone said to me 'you're going to get a silver medal at an Olympic Games, a fourth and sixth and you're going to swim ok' I would have taken that.

"I'm pretty happy with this performance."

Guy, and his teammates Stephen Milne, Duncan Scott and Dan Wallace, ensured it was another night to remember in the pool for Team GB at Rio 2016.

After sitting in fifth following the first leg, third swimmer Wallace and then Guy first hauled in Australia before passing Japan to finish second behind the USA, brought home by Michael Phelps, in 7:03.13.

Guy had not been included in the team in the heat win last night but as British and world 200m champion he was called up as a replacement for Robbie Renwick for the final at 3.40am UK time.

With the medal win immediately following Siobhan-Marie O’Connor’s 200m individual medley silver the success ensures Team GB will have its most successful Olympic Games in the pool since Los Angeles 1984.

The two silvers take Britain’s swimming tally at Rio 2016 to four, following Adam Peaty and Jazz Carlin’s gold and silver success on Sunday, with Team GB now up to six medals across all sports.