Hastings man's joy as he meets with Olympic couple Laura Trott and Jason Kenny

Michael Girardot (centre) with Laura Trott and Jason Kenny. Picture by Michael Girardot

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A retired PE teacher had the opportunity to rub shoulders with Olympians Laura Trott and Jason Kenny.

Michael Girardot, who lives in Hastings Wall, met the pair while he was in the Old Town last Wednesday (October 19).

He said: “Both of them are like demigods in the sporting world.

“Being an ex-PE teacher I’m a sport fanatic. I saw them walking through the Old Town. I said to them they must be hounded by people a lot but they said no one really recognises them.

“They are so lovely and down-to-earth people and were happy to stop to have a picture taken with me.”

Both Laura and Jason have just finished a month-long honeymoon, having visited St Tropez, Monaco, Nice, Lake Como in Switzerland, Luxembourg, Belgium before ending their tour in Hastings.

Laura is a track and road cyclist who specialises in the team pursuit, omnium and scratch race disciplines.

With four Olympic gold medals, having won both the team pursuit and the omnium at both the 2012 and 2016 games, Laura is both the most successful female cyclist in Olympic history, and Britain’s most successful Olympic female competitor in any sport.

Since first appearing at the European Track Championships in 2010, she has won seven World Championship, a record 10 European Championship and one Commonwealth Games titles, as part of a total of 29 medals.

Jason, a track cyclist, specialising in the individual and team sprints, has seven Olympic track sprint medals to his name.

He is the joint holder of the highest number of Olympic Golds for a British athlete alongside fellow track cyclist Chris Hoy.

The relationship between Jason and Laura began during the build-up to the London 2012 Olympic Games.

They married last month in Cheshire.

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