Five years ago, Kate and Helen Richardson-Walsh became the first same-sex couple to play together in an Olympic match when they competed in Rio 2016.
The pair wound up winning gold, making even more Olympic history. Five years later, another British field hockey couple is following in their footsteps.
Sarah Jones and Leah Wilkinson are now also Olympic medalists.
Team Great Britain defeated India Friday in a thrilling 4-3 match to win bronze in Tokyo. There are three out players on Team GB — Jones, Wilkinson and Susannah Townsend.
Jones and Wilkinson are currently engaged.
“We’ll look back on it in years to come with our grandkids and say ‘Look, we won a bronze medal at the Olympics together!,’” said Jones, via itv. “That’s just so special.”
Today, Leah represents Wales for the 158th time. No other welsh sportsperson player🙎♀️or🙎♂️has ever reached this milestone. She also happens to have 158 bruises and scars to show for it. Leah, you truly have no equal. Congratulations🥳 #arwres #leah158 pic.twitter.com/DExJAtCDh9
— Sarah Jones (@sarahjones8888) June 1, 2019
Jones and Wilkinson are also part of a special organization. Team GB is dominant in women’s field hockey, and thought they entered Tokyo as gold medal favorites, walking away with bronze is still an incredible accomplishment.
Great Britain raced ahead to an early 2-0 lead, before India struck back with three goals in four minutes. But in the second half, Great Britain scored two more goals of its own, completing the comeback victory.
On social media, Jones said her bronze medal “means everything.”
This means everything!
— Sarah Jones (@sarahjones8888) August 6, 2021
OLYMPIC BRONZE MEDALISTS!!! 🥉🥉🥉 pic.twitter.com/afRDZ5CfJq
Team GB’s bronze-worthy effort gives Team LGBTQ 24 medals. That’s pretty awesome. And as an added bonus, Jones and Wilkinson won their first as a couple.
They’ll now return home as Olympic medalists. But that doesn’t mean life will stop for the pair.
Duty calls.
“We also get to plan our online shop for next week and everything else that Sarah’s been talking about – that side of things that’s not so glamorous. The water bill, and things like that.” Wilkinson said.
But at least Jones and Wilkinson can now pay the water bill as Olympic medalists. Not many couples can say that.
“It’s amazing,” Wilkinson said. “I think we’ll remember this for a while.”