'I'm proud to be flying the flag for Yorkshire': Bobsleigh star Leon Greenwood's journey to Winter Olympics

In the first of our new Saturday Interview features, Yorkshire Evening Post sports writer Lee Sobot catches up with Batley bobsledder and now Team GB Olympian Leon Greenwood.

A former sprinter for Spenborough Athletics Club, the ex-Spen Valley High School pupil suffered a serious ankle injury back in 2019.

Greenwood then became a policeman – but ultimately ended up representing Team GB – and Leeds – in the bobsleigh at this year’s Milano Cortina Winter Olympics in Italy.

Leon, not many people get to compete at a Winter Olympics. What was that like for you?

“It’s exactly what I dreamt it to be.

“I’ve had the best few weeks of my whole life, just being with the guys, being in the competition, being in the Olympic Village, it’s exactly what I expected it to be.

“The competition part, oh my God that was electric, having my family there as well. I could see them literally before I was about to go.

“I didn’t need a boost of energy then but it gave me that extra little boost to see my little girl’s face saying ‘go daddy go’. It was amazing.

“It feels like I’m fulfilled. It feels like something I’ve been working towards my whole life; I’ve done it. I set out to do it and I believed I could do it and I’ve done it. I’ve proved people wrong on the way and it feels even sweeter.”

“Wearing them boots and chasing after people wasn’t great rehab!”

What was the journey like to get there in terms of how did you get into bobsleigh and then end up on the team?

“Starting off I was a sprinter. I was a good level sprinter, and then in 2019 I had a serious ankle injury and I basically got told I wouldn’t be able to sprint again if I had this surgery.

“But they didn’t really give me any options.

“They give me three options. We either leave the ankle, have an injection in the ankle but the pain will come back or you have surgery but you won’t be able to sprint again.

“I was like none of these options are great!

“But I went for the third option and had surgery because I thought if I believe I can do it, I can do it. That was the mindset going into it.

“I had the surgery and then two to three years down the line I ended up coming back and running a personal best in the 100m and that’s when bobsleigh comes into the picture.

“I knew a few people who did it and they messaged me to say you should come and try it out at one of the talent identification days so I went down to Bath where the GB facility is for one of those.

“During that time when I had that injury as well I started in the police, I was a police officer.

“Having that ankle injury in the police as well, wearing them boots and chasing after people wasn’t great rehab! But that’s what I was doing.

“I remember strapping my ankle up most days just going to work.

“Then I started bobsleigh and I had a couple of years of not being funded.

“The police didn’t support me financially when I was away so then I had to make a decision.

“I said, ‘if I want to be an Olympian I have to make a decision’ and then one month before my daughter was born I had a conversation with my partner.

“I said ‘I can’t be doing night shifts’. It’s difficult to do night shifts and then expect to go to training like three hours after and if you really want to do something you have to put all your eggs in one basket.

“My partner’s been with me since I was 19 so she’s known the journey I have been on and the dream of becoming an Olympian so she trusted me and I quit the police one month before my daughter was born.”

Crikey, a big step, what was that like then and how did it change things for you?

“It was pretty nerve-wracking. There was a lot of pressure because I take pride in supplying my family so I created my own business so I could work.

“That way I could financially support myself whilst I was away and also directly impact people’s lives as well because I still wanted to help people so I started my business in online coaching.

“There was a lot of pressure to bring in income and stuff because in bobsleigh I had no support really and that’s when the Olympics kind of came around.

“As soon as I put all my eggs in one basket my improvement, the graph just improved so much. I got so much better.

“I was sleeping better, obviously I had my daughter so that wasn’t great with the sleep! But generally I was turning up for training sessions not like I was after a night shift so I improved pretty well.

“I just got better and then this year was kind of like my breakthrough year where I really improved lmassively.

“I use this method where I just visualise it, work for it, make it happen, I literally just tell myself that with anything that I do. I visualise my goals.

“I visualised the Olympics so when I got there it wasn’t a shock to me because I had already dreamt it, I visualised it and even the prep, the morning before, the evening before, I had prepped absolutely everything, the gym sessions leading up to it. I visualised all of it. So when I was there, I’ve already done it. I’ve already done it a million times.”

“Something to be really proud of”

Amazing. How did it actually go for you at the Winter Olympics then in terms of the events?

“My debut was supposed to be in the four-man but I ended up going in the two-man race which was a shock. I was there literally an hour before in the Olympic Village just chilling.

“I was just relaxing because I had trained just a few hours beforehand because I wasn’t supposed to be going in the two-man.

“I’ve never even done a race in that.

“The last time I was in a training two-man push was six months ago.

“I got put into that and I never turn anything down, I always see everything as an opportunity.

“When I got there the coaches were like ‘Leon, just be careful, we need you for the four-man’.

“They told me to go at 80 per cent but I did like 85 per cent on the first push and then on the second push I was like ‘do you know what, I am going to actually give it some, I feel really good here’.

“But then in the warm-up, I ended up tightening up which was very annoying for my first Olympics, I’m going to have to jog it off.

“But I did it because I saw the bigger sight of the four-man.

"So I did it, I did the two man, I became an Olympian unexpectedly a bit before I thought.

“Then the four-man race came around and we pushed so well, we haven’t pushed that well in years. We finished our Olympics with a top two start, the second fastest in the world at the Olympics is something to be really proud of because that’s my job, right? To push the sled off so it’s fantastic.

“Obviously a seventh-placed actual finish wasn’t what we hoped for, we’ve been medal hopes for the last four years. But we can be proud.

“Someone asked me, ‘What happens if you don’t get the medal?’ I said we have done everything we can and I have done everything I can and I have put myself and my team in the best position possible.

“So I’m not disappointed in that, I’m actually really proud and really proud of the support that I have got from back home. It’s been crazy.”

When you say back home, tell us a bit about your Leeds upbringing?

“I was brought up in Batley and I left Batley when I was 18 to go to uni.

“I went to Cardiff Met University, I stayed down there for five years and met my partner. I met her at uni and she is from Berkshire in the Newbury area so then I moved down there and we have been down here since, that’s where I was in the police.

“To be fair it’s kind of worked out because Bath is not too far away from here, it’s like an hour and a half so it’s not too far away.

“But I was born in Dewsbury Hospital, I went to Carlinghow Primary School and then Spen Valley High School.”

“I really do take a lot of pride in it, especially following names like the Brownlees and Nicola Adams”

So you really are flying the flag for Leeds as well as Great Britain then, following people like the Brownlee brothers and Nicola Adams. What does that mean to you?

“I take great pride in that.

“I take a lot of pride in being from Yorkshire, especially my family.

“They say ‘don’t forget where you are from!’

“But trust me, I don’t. I take big pride in it.

“My nan is always saying it, ‘Don’t forget you are from Yorkshire’.

“But trust me nan, I take a lot of pride in it and I’m the only northern bloke on my team so there’s a lot of banter between the north and the south.

“I really do take a lot of pride in it, especially following names like the Brownlees and Nicola Adams.

“I am an Olympian now and I take huge pride in that.

“I feel like there’s a responsibility now to inspire and to create an impact.

“It’s great to have the Olympic status but it’s actually like what you do with that, what you do with that Olympic status.

"For me, it’s to create an impact and show the path to people.

“When I was a kid there were no opportunities really. I had to go and find it myself.

“My job now is to take it upon myself to create an impact and show our kids, show our next generation the right path and make it easier for them.

“It wasn’t easy for me – so let’s make it easier for them.”

You're still only 28 too Leon, so are we talking Winter Olympics 2030 in the French Alps?

“I’d love to go to 2030.

“I’m an opportunity taker and I’m open to anything.

“I don’t really know how the programme is going to work now because the programme changes every four years.

“But I’d love to go to 2030 and represent Team GB again.

“I’ve enjoyed the journey and I want to carry on but if things change and other opportunities come along then I'm open.

“I’m open to anything.

“Every year we have a World Cup which starts from November to March so now it’s just relax and get into summer training in June time.

“There’s so many variables to bobsleigh and the team that we have now won't be the team in 2030.

“Greg [Cackett] has openly said he doesn’t want to do another Olympics, he’s been to three Olympics. He doesn’t want to do another one. He wants to get on with his life. He’s achieved a lot.

“And Taylor [Lawrence] is a little bit older than me but he thinks he wants to do maybe another year. I’m not too sure if he wants to do another Olympics.

“The team won’t be the same and bobsleigh is like a brotherhood.

“I’m just very open and I think right now it’s just time to reflect on the last six or seven years really – when I got told I could never run again.

“I’ll keep having flashbacks to that and what I have achieved through that.

“Competitions are always going to be there and I am always going to be in good shape. I love doing that kind of stuff.”

And most importantly Leon, have you had a big Batley homecoming?!

“I would love that because I live down here in Newbury. I haven’t been up north yet!

“But I have spoken to the Dewsbury Reporter quite a few times and I did a post saying thank you and these are the races I am going to be competing in.

“The support I have got and that I have had is mad, I am literally flying the flag for Batley and for Yorkshire and it just means a huge lot to me, so much.

“I just hope people, teenagers, kids, adults can look at that. Hopefully just my story can maybe just inspire one of them.”