By Adam Cleary
IT was a whirlwind summer for 22-year-old Joe Brier from Neath.
The Swansea Harrier 400m runner was due to compete at the European Under-23 championships in Tallinn, but a late phone call saw him called up to go to the Tokyo Olympics with Team GB as a travelling reserve.
“It was a bit of a weird one,” said Brier.
“I was originally meant to be going out to my own event, the European Under 23 Championships in Estonia. I had a phone-call two days before I was due to go to Estonia asking if I’d like to go to the Olympics as a travelling reserve.
“You can’t really turn down an opportunity like that even if you are a travelling reserve.
“On my season’s best I was ranked number one however I didn’t perform at the trials which is why I missed out initially.”
The incredible summer didn’t stop there for Brier.
After Team GB teammate Matthew Hudson Smith withdrew, Brier was drafted into the relay squad to take to the track.
“It was a bit of an emotional few weeks for myself, not knowing if I was running or not, not even knowing if I was going at one point,” said Brier.
“Whilst we were out in Tokyo, some things went on with Matthew Hudson Smith which led to him withdrawing from the team and then I was brought in.”
Olympian – thanks for all the love and support over the past few weeks💫🇬🇧🇯🇵 pic.twitter.com/XbCL5VNftA
— Joe Brier, OLY (@joebrier400) August 9, 2021
It was an Olympic Games like no other, with Covid-19 protocols meaning athletes couldn’t socialise and get out and sightsee in the host city like they usually would.
Despite this Brier still made the most of the Olympics experience.
“It was very restricted, before we went into the Olympic village we were in a training camp in a city about half an hour away from Tokyo called Yokohama,” he explained.
“There we were only allowed to leave the hotel to go to training at the athletics track.
“It was a bit weird, there were armed security on the doors of the hotel. We weren’t allowed to leave the hotel and people weren’t allowed to come in, it was very different to what we’re used too.
“When we got to the Olympic Village, 10 days before the 4x400m heats, we had more freedom to do what we wanted. The Village was unbelievably big, it took about an hour to walk around it, it had everything we needed, shops, barbers everything you could think of.
“We got to socialise with other teams and other athletes from Team GB in the Olympic Village.
“I spoke to Tom Daley quite a bit when we were out there, obviously he did really well in the diving. Even just mixing with people in the other sports was pretty insane just seeing how they go about their lives and how they train.”
Congratulations to @joebrier99 on his Olympic debut for @teamgb @BritAthletics 🇬🇧 🏴
We’re all so proud of you and the 4x400m team!
Cymru am byth! pic.twitter.com/DHrmmfjjrR
— @welshathletics (@WelshAthletics) August 6, 2021
Having put his Olympic experiences behind him, Brier’s next goal will be to represent his home nation of Wales at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham next year.
Brier will be hoping to follow in the footsteps of his older sister Hannah who represented Wales at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games at the age of just 16 in the 4x100m relay event.
He added: “Next year is a big year with the Commonwealth games in Birmingham. It’s one I have been targeting for a very long time now. When I go I’ll be hoping to make the final and hopefully take home a medal too.
“It’s always been a dream for me and my sister to be competing at the same major championships, we’ve done one before in 2019 at the European Under-23 Championships.
“We both really want to make our mark on the senior stage and both compete at the games in Birmingham, it’s looking likely that we will which will be insane.”