Bradly Sinden admitted he might never have reached the heights of his career without the vital support of SportsAid.

Sinden is a two-time taekwondo world champion and Olympic silver medallist from Tokyo, and narrowly missed out on a medal at the Paris 2024 Games.

It is a far cry from Sinden’s humble roots in Stainforth, where he grew up in a single-parent household alongside three other siblings.

It meant the funding made available for his prodigious talent by SportsAid, including a crucial ‘Backing the Best’ grant that helped him join the senior GB Taekwondo squad, proved life-changing.

Now with two Olympics under his belt alongside a host of medals, Sinden reflected that it might all have been very different.

“Being a single-parent family, it wasn’t the richest family but mum never made that known from the games consoles I got, to taking me all around the world,” said Sinden.

“SportsAid were a big part of that with the funding for each year. I was one of the first cohorts going into Backing the Best, who gave a lot of money in my last year of juniors when I really needed to break into that senior team.

“Without that we don’t know what would have happened but I managed to get to the competitions I needed, managed to be in the senior team for the last eight years and representing Team GB at the last two Olympics.”

Support has been a key theme throughout Sinden’s career, as he transformed from a hyperactive child to an Olympic medallist.

Throughout it all, mum Sheryl has been the guiding light and backbone to his career.

“You have a lot of role models in your life but she is the role model for me,” he said.

“Single-parent family, I have just got my mum, she taught me how to be respectful, she taught me how to do everything.

“Even though people say you need that father figure to be a great man, she has taught me how to be that. How to be that kind, nurturing person.

“My mum got me into taekwondo and took me everywhere I needed to be to achieve my dreams. If it wasn’t for her, even taking me sometimes when I didn’t want to be there, she knew it was going to be my life and what I could achieve.

“She saw a future for me and wasn’t going to let me miss out on that future because some days I was a bit tired.

“I am forever grateful to her taking me up and down the country to every single competition, paying for me, without that stuff I wouldn’t be where I am today.”

Sinden went into the Paris 2024 Olympics with high hopes of a medal, including the gold that he has craved for so long.

However, a knee injury put pay to thoughts of the podium, with Sinden forced to withdraw from his bronze medal fight.

And while he was overcome with disappointment, being able to share the moment with his mum proved important solace.

He added: “Win or lose, having your family there to help you celebrate or commiserate, they help you realise what you have achieved. That’s what we missed out on in Tokyo so that was hard.

“This one, even though Paris hasn’t turned out the way I wanted to, I think having my mum there helped me a lot. I wasn’t in a great place after that semi-final loss because my injury was the reason why I didn’t manage to get through that, I felt cheated. I needed it to hang on for just two more fights, couldn’t it just hang on?

“I had mum there for me to cry, she was nothing but proud of me. Being able to have that cry with them and get over it as quick as possible with them. They’re always proud of you no matter what.

“How many people can say ‘my son is an Olympian?’ Having everyone there was more than I could have asked for.”

SportsAid Live, hosted by Marsh McLennan, brought together over 40 athletes and their families, across more than 20 different sports, to meet each other and share their experiences and knowledge, while also benefitting from mentoring and valuable workshops in areas such as mind health, sleep, performance, wellbeing and building your brand.