Team GB sprinter Amy Hunt has revealed her half-joking relationship mantra is “medals before men” as she prioritises her track career over finding a boyfriend.
The 24-year-old enjoyed a successful year which peaked in August, when she became the first athlete to win four gold medals at the same European Championships. In the space of six days, she clinched the 100m, 200m, women’s 4x100m relay and mixed 4x100m relay titles.
A Gladiator homage and a personal life in Padua
After winning the 200m final, the second of her four-gold haul, Hunt asked into a TV camera: “Are you not entertained?” Her homage to Russell Crowe’s Gladiator offered a glimpse into her personality.
Hunt began training full-time after graduating from Cambridge University with an English degree and has lived in Padua, Italy for the last few years. She enjoys living alone in Padua, surrounded by Renaissance and medieval culture, which formed a major part of her degree.
Balancing romance and elite sport
In an interview with The Times, Hunt admitted to telling her coach she is “medals before men”. Explaining the difficulty of balancing romance with an elite sporting career, she said: “What we do requires so much of ourselves in terms of time, sacrifice, emotions and energy that if you’re pouring that into the wrong person, it can have quite catastrophic effects.”
She is comfortably independent, as demonstrated by a solo holiday to St Lucia. She said: “I think it’s really cool to be able to go to a restaurant, take a book and have your own thoughts for company.” Hunt added: “There’s a whole big life out there, and I’m in no rush to settle down, to slow down.”
An eventful year on and off the track
It has been an eventful year for Hunt, who won the 100m title and finished runner-up in the 200m at the UK Championships in June. The following month, she also claimed a 100m silver medal at the Commonwealth Games.
Hunt ended her season by finishing fourth in the 200m event at the World Ultimate Championships in Budapest this month. However, after the final, the Olympic silver medallist used her platform to criticise Sydney Sweeney’s controversial sports gambling ad campaign, which featured the actor covering her body with various items of sporting equipment.
In an appearance on Good Morning Britain, Hunt doubled down on her stance: “When we're trying to provide role models for young people and young women in sport, we really want to show that it's about what your body can do, not so much what it looks like.”
While Hunt took issue with Sweeney’s portrayal of women in sport, the European champion is accustomed to taking centre stage. Speaking to The Times, she said: “Every competition is performance. You’re trying to put together the most perfect, flawless movie ever. When we get into the arena, everyone is looking down at us. The spotlights are on us when we’re introduced. We’re receiving the adulation from the crowd and waving back.”
