Mum of Olympic medallist Burgess recalls his tears

Mum Carole said she told Adam Burgess his achievement was absolutely awesome

The mum of Olympic silver medallist Adam Burgess said he was crying on her shoulder after the men's canoe singles final.

Burgess, 32, from Stone in Staffordshire, won his first Olympic medal by clocking a time of 96.84 seconds at the Paris Games.

He had missed out on the podium by 0.16 seconds at the delayed Tokyo Games.

Mum Carole McGranachan explained of their brief reunion: "[I said] 'so proud of you' - je suis très fier in French, which sounds so much better."

She said she saw him for only a couple of minutes after he received his medal and "managed to give him a really big hug".

She explained: "He was crying on my shoulder. I just said 'congratulations Adam, this is just absolutely awesome'."

She added: "It's been 20-odd years coming, from that very first time I took him down to the river in Stone, all those days by the river bank... all the trips all round Britain for races as he was going through the ranks.

"It's been [an] absolutely incredible journey and I'm so happy, so proud that I've been with him the whole time."

Adam Burgess had said previously: "I really think [the] raw speed that I've got, that's what was forged in the early days back on the River Trent in Stone."

Burgess clocked 96.84 seconds at the Paris Games, after missing out on the podium at the delayed Tokyo Games

Brother Matthew Burgess, who flew over from Hong Kong for the event, said he had received hundreds of messages from friends sending him photos of the podium scenes.

"I had to watch him in a bar in Hong Kong last time. Obviously Paris is a bit further away from Hong Kong where I live, but completely worth it.

"I've slightly jumped on the bandwagon. These guys [other family] have sort of followed him for 20 years and [are] a lot more emotionally invested than I am.

"But, yeah, I think I perhaps was crying the most there at the end."

Brother Matthew flew over from Hong Kong

Dad Dean Burgess said of the silver medallist that "underneath all that, and our friends will agree, he's such a nice guy and he thoroughly deserves it".

Asked about watching his son, he replied it was "pretty tense, but emotional as well".

He added: "[It was] a bit worrying towards the end of the course. He made a little mistake and we were thinking 'oh gosh, is that his chance gone'?

"Then he was just awesome on the bottom part of the course... and we're just all so proud."

Father Dean said it was emotional