Skip to content
University of East London
  • Staff login
  • Student login
  • Study

    Study

    Site Navigation - Quick Links

    • Why UEL?
    • Undergraduate prospectus
    • Postgraduate prospectus
    • Sport at UEL

    Undergraduate study

    View all of our undergraduate subjects.

    Explore now
    • COURSES
      • Undergraduate
      • Postgraduate
      • Getting back into education
      • Subjects
      • May starts
      • Apprenticeships
    • STUDENT INFORMATION
      • Student life
      • Current students
      • New students
      • Accommodation
      • Term dates
      • Fees and funding
      • Scholarships
    • VISIT UEL
      • Open days and events
      • Our location
  • International

    International

    Site Navigation - Quick Links

    • Why UEL?
    • Undergraduate prospectus
    • Postgraduate prospectus
    • Sport at UEL

    Virtual Open Events

    Need support during your admission journey?

    Attend our virtual events
    • APPLYING
      • Advice for your region
      • Pre-degree courses
      • Immigration advice and compliance
      • Transferring to UEL
      • International admission deadlines
      • Pre-sessional English
      • Malvern House pathway programmes
    • STUDENT INFORMATION
      • Accommodation
      • Term dates
      • Fees and funding
      • Scholarships
    • VISIT UEL
      • Open days and events
      • Our location
      • Virtual open events
  • Your career

    Your career

    Site Navigation - Quick Links

    • Why UEL?
    • Undergraduate prospectus
    • Postgraduate prospectus
    • Sport at UEL

    Are you an employer?

    Advertise a vacancy on our platform today.

    Get started
    • STARTING YOUR CAREER
      • Career Zone
      • Explore your career
      • Career coaching and mentoring
    • GETTING A JOB
      • Meet employers
      • Be your own boss
      • Volunteering
      • Work while you study
  • Partners

    Partners

    Site Navigation - Quick Links

    • Why UEL?
    • Undergraduate prospectus
    • Postgraduate prospectus
    • Sport at UEL

    Are you an employer?

    Advertise a vacancy on our platform today.

    Get started
    • Partnerships at UEL
    • Train your workforce
    • Share your skills
    • Connect with our people
  • Our research

    Our research

    Site Navigation - Quick Links

    • Why UEL?
    • Undergraduate prospectus
    • Postgraduate prospectus
    • Sport at UEL

    REF 2021

    Read about our Research Excellence Framework submissions and results

    Impact case studies
    • Postgraduate research students
    • Research impact
    • Partnerships
    • REF 2021
  • About

    About

    Site Navigation - Quick Links

    • Why UEL?
    • Undergraduate prospectus
    • Postgraduate prospectus
    • Sport at UEL

    Connected campus

    We are improving our three campuses for people to study, work and live.

    What we're doing
    • OUR UNIVERSITY
      • Our schools and subjects
      • Staff
      • Governance
      • Professional services
      • Vision 2028
      • Alumni
      • Accreditations
      • Sustainable Development Goals
    • TEACHING AND SUPPORT
      • How we teach
      • Mental wealth
      • On-campus nursery
    • GET INVOLVED
      • Events
      • News
    • GET IN TOUCH
      • Our location
      • Contact us
  • Home
  • About UEL

UEL honours Olympic gold medallist Bethany Shriever

Hero Carousel

Bethany Shriever graduation

BMX star tells graduates to 'stick at it' and 'work hard'

See all of our News articles

Published

14 September 2021

Share

Share On Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on LinkedIn

In July, Bethany Shriever became the first and only  British person to win an Olympic gold medal in BMX bicycle motocross. This was followed by a gold medal in August at the 2021 BMX World Championships in the Netherlands.

On Tuesday, 14 September, Ms Shriever received an Honorary Doctorate of Sport from the University of East London in recognition of her achievements.

She told students at a graduation ceremony for the University's School of Education and Communities to keep believing in their dreams.

What I achieved hopefully proves to the world that you should keep believing in your dreams. We all have good and bad days. Whatever you want to achieve after today, stick at it, work hard, and it can come."

Bethany Shriever, Olympic BMX gold medallist, said.

Ms Shriever was born in east London in 1999. She is the University of East London’s youngest-ever recipient of an Honorary Doctorate of Sport.

Ms Shriever is no stranger to adversity, having overcome a series of challenges that include rising to the top of a male-dominated sport, serious injuries and lack of funding.

After the 2016 Olympics, UK Sport made the decision to stop providing financial help for female BMX competitors. Ms Shriever continued to train and compete on her own with the help of her family and some crowd funding.

She also discovered a passion for working with early years children, taking on a part-time teaching assistant position.

She told UEL graduates, many of whom plan to move into the teaching profession, that, "I know many of you here today will know what I mean when I say that teaching and supporting children to learn and develop gives you an amazing buzz.

"I got to help them with their maths, reading and writing, and of course I started a cycling club at the school to inspire the next generate of BMX riders."

British Cycling launched a women’s BMX funding programme before the 2020 Olympics, and Ms Shriever made the Team GB squad and won the gold medal by nine-hundredths of a second.

She said, "Winning the gold was a life changing moment. When I crossed the line, I was full of excitement and was thinking, 'What has just happened?!'"

The moment provided one of the iconic images of the Games, with Ms Shriever and silver medallist and Team GB teammate Kye Whyte celebrating together on the finish line.

She said, "It was so special to share that moment with him. We’d grown up together and worked so hard for what we wanted to achieve."

Looking ahead to the future, Ms Shriever is focusing on the 2024 Olympics in Paris. She also hopes to inspire more girls and women to get involved in BMX and hopes that more money will be invested in BMX following her success. She said that when she retires from BMX, she plans to  pursue  a career in  early years teaching.

Whether in sport or in teaching, Ms Shriever's future is surely golden.

Share

Share On Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on LinkedIn

Communications team

Contact us for press and interview requests

 

+44 (0)20 8223 2911
pressoffice@uel.ac.uk

Help us make this site better by telling us what you think about this page

Social Media

Follow us on social media:

Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Youtube Instagram TikTok

University of East London

University Way

London, E16 2RD

United Kingdom



T. +44 20 8223 3000


Explore UEL

  • About UEL
  • Take a virtual tour
  • Calendars
  • Freedom of information
  • Governance management
  • Services and departments
  • Find us
  • Contact us

The University

  • Undergraduate
  • Postgraduate
  • News
  • Events
  • Jobs

University of East London

University Way

London, E16 2RD

United Kingdom



T. +44 20 8223 3000


Copyright ©2023 University of East London

  • Accessibility
  • Data protection
  • Sitemap
  • AccessAble
  • Modern slavery
  • Legal and compliance
  • Cookie settings
  • Privacy