James Guy's family talk about his Olympic gold medal win

James Guy won the 4x200m freestyle relay gold medal at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

After being crowned Warrington Under 11s Sports Personality of 2007 in recognition of his swimming achievements early on, has now achieved the ultimate prize.

James’ dad, Andy Guy, told the Warrington Guardian about how much James’ win means to the family and how they had to watch the event from home.

Andy and the rest of the family including James’ mum Cath, his brother, Luke, his girlfriend, Courtney, and his brother’s girlfriend, Emily, stayed up throughout the night to watch the final in their family home in Bury.

Andy, who used to live in Stockton Heath, said: ‘‘It felt unreal, very emotional, very well deserved and you saw the emotions coming out when he started crying and that made us cry because we had all the family together.

‘‘We are so proud and absolutely delighted for him.’’

After being at poolside for every major and national competition James has ever been in, his family found it ‘very hard’ watching from home – however their nerves soon turned into excitement once James began to take a lead over the rival American swimmer.

Andy also explained how everyone had seen the sensitive side to James as before the win, he had never cried before despite being four times World Champion, Commonwealth Champion, European Champion and many more.

He said: ‘‘What you saw there was the real James Guy.

‘‘I think James showed a different side to himself – he showed the sensitive side and the nice thing about it is that when he stands on the block, he’s a real warrior.

He is set to take place in tomorrow's final

‘‘When he gets off the blocks – for the first time ever, you’ve seen 20 years of emotion come out.’’

The former Cardinal High School and Our Lady’s Catholic Primary School pupil spent his younger years growing up in Stockton Heath and was even recognised for his swimming talents back then.

Andy said: ‘‘He won the sports personality of Warrington when he was 11.

‘‘We went to a nice presentation evening and when he won it, I remember the presenter asking him what kind of training he did and because he trained at Manchester, James told him he wakes up at 4am three mornings a week, has his breakfast in the car, trains for two hours, goes home, and then goes to school.

‘‘I could hear all the parents gasping because they couldn’t believe the effort he put in.

‘‘He won that and some nice little awards and a couple of years later he got a scholarship in Somerset.’’

The Guy family have received an unbelievable amount of support, describing the last 36 hours as ‘crazy.’

Andy explained how James has support from people across the world, varying from military camps to past swimming clubs and from friends and family.

James will be taking part in the mixed 4x100m medley final tomorrow, Saturday, alongside his teammates, including Warrington’s Kathleen Dawson, a former Great Sankey High School student.

Andy and the family are looking forward to picking James up from London Heathrow on Monday and spending some family time.

Andy added: ‘‘We can’t wait to see him.

‘‘We know he’s our big boy and six foot three, but he’s our little boy.

‘‘We can’t wait.’’