Olympic gold medallist Alex Yee has Ladywell Arena named after him

Lewisham’s Olympic hero Alex Yee has been given the ultimate honour by his home borough – the running track where he started out has been named after him.

The 26-year-old, who was born a stone’s throw away in Lewisham Hospital and brought up in Brockley, unveiled a plaque at the renamed Alex Yee Ladywell Arena in Catford on Friday.

Children from Yee’s old school, Stillness Infants in Honor Oak Park, were there to greet him along with Lewisham’s elected mayor Brenda Dacres, the Lewisham North MP Vicky Foxcroft and friends from Kent Athletics Club, which is based at the track.

Yee, who won gold in the Olympic triathlon in Paris this summer after a dramatic late finish and is also the current world triathlon champion, ran laps of the track with the children and spent time answering their questions.

He told The Greenwich Wire: “It’s been amazing. It’s a bit beyond my oldest dreams that the track I first set foot on would be renamed after me. I’m a little bit lost for words and so touched that I could share it with so many special people.” 

He said he was first invited to the track after meeting Spenser Lane, who was Kent AC’s young athlete’s manager, at school events.

“I didn’t really know what to do when I first came down. I wandered down as a naive young lad and was welcomed with open arms to such an amazing club – the sprinters, distance runners and juniors alike.Everyone was having fun and working hard and that was really special.”

Lane told the audience that he met Yee when he was a 15-year-old “with no small amount of confidence – Alex described himself as the third best runner in London. Naturally that set us an immediate challenge.”

“Alex trained hard and showed incredible dedication,” Lane said. “He attended every session he could and appreciated that I wanted him to lead from the front. He always made it a point of competing in the mini-marathon trials we hold here to earn his spot in the Lewisham team.

“One particular crocs-country race in Croydon stands out. Alex told me he didn’t need a lift and he would meet us there, but when the team arrived, he was nowhere to be seen. He finally appeared, quickly changed, and then proceeded to win the race by a huge margin.

“On the drive home. I asked him where he’d been. He’d just done an 80km cycling session to get to the race. That’s like travelling from his home in Brockley to Croydon, which is 16km, but going via Heathrow airport. 

Stillness Infants School’s head, Annie Grimes, said: “We are so proud that Alex started at Stillness. He joined us when he was five years old and here he is now. 

“For the children, Alex is just, in their words, a hero. He is just an absolute inspiration to them. He’s been back to school, which is great, to let them see him doing the Daily Mile and ask him questions.

“We have an Alex Yee board in the big hall, which they see every day. And the question on it is, which values does Alex Yee live every day? And we know the obvious ones, you live the values of perseverance, of resilience, the teamwork, the trust, we have pride and kindness, and you’ve shown all that through your whole journey. And the last one is the community.

“It’s so great that you are still part of the community and that you inspire the community and our future generation here in Lewisham. And that is amazing to us because that speaks to the children about the fact that they can do anything.”

Dacres told Yee: “You are the most successful triathlon in Olympic history. The two gold medals, a silver and a bronze, along with the titles of Commonwealth Games champion, and world triathlon champion. You have shown everyone that greatness can come from anywhere. And especially a place like Lewisham.”

Yee said he hoped to visit the arena – which is also home to Lewisham Borough and Forest Hill Park football clubs – more often.

“I’m hoping to get down a lot more now that the track’s named after me,” he said. “I’m probably down here, two, three, four times a year I’d say. So I’d like to come down a lot more now that beautifully named after me.”

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