Former Asda Athlete strikes gold in the European Youth Olympics

Our former Asda Athlete, 16-year-old Matthew Johnson, recently returned from the European Youth Olympic Festival in Trabzon, Turkey, with an incredible haul of medals.

The young swimmer arrived home with four gold medals and two silvers, including a gold and personal best in the 200m individual medley – completed in a time of 2:04.35. You can find out more about his trip to Turkey in his video blog above.

Matthew was partnered with Asda Dewsbury from 2008 to 2010, receiving funding from the store to help with competition and training costs, as well as advice to help raise his profile in the local community.

He has been nationally recognised as a high achiever in his sport – and has been recorded as swimming faster in the 200m event than Michael Phelps at the same age.

Here at Asda we’re delighted with his success so far and are glad to have played a part in helping him achieve his dreams. We look forward to hearing more about his career over the coming months.

Each year, we sponsor around 300 young athletes through the Asda Athletes programme, a scheme that is run in partnership with SportsAid, the national sports charity that aims to identify, reward and recognise the right young sporting talent at the right time.

Check out our Asda Athletes website to find out what this year’s intake of athletes – including the athlete partnered with your local store – have been up to.