From selling sofas to competing at world championships for Sheffield sprinter Lee Thompson
The vast majority of athletes competing in the World Championships in Tokyo this next week will have done nothing but eat, sleep and breathe their chosen discipline.
Sheffield’s Lee Thompson bucks the trend - and believes he is a better athlete for it.
Because for 40 hours a week, the 28-year-old has a full-time job, selling finance packages for furniture store DFS.
Having to fit his training with Sheffield and Dearne Athletics Club into mornings, evenings and weekends around the day job, has not stopped him securing a spot on Great Britain’s 4x400m relay team for his first major championships since the Tokyo Olympics.
“I’m not going to complain about having to work full-time, I’m thankful I’ve made the team and I’m very proud of myself for doing that and getting to this stage,” Thompson tells The Yorkshire Post from the team’s training camp in Miyazaki.
“It’s all circumstantial, it’s nobody else’s fault, I’ll keep on working as hard as I can. I’m enjoying the sport, I enjoy training, I have fun when I get out to these camps and I want to do well for all the other lads on the team and my coach at home.”
Striking that work-life balance has really helped Thompson, who has managed to compete in 20 events this season, winning a number of those thanks in part to a shift in his mental approach.
“A lot of it was the pressure I put on myself after making the team for the world championships in 2019 and the Olympics in 2021, it was almost like I put the expectation on myself that I should now be making the team each year,” says Thompson, who has been given three weeks off work to prepare for and compete in the worlds.
“That additional pressure just didn’t work for me, so it’s been a case this year of shifting that mindset to being more like, ‘ok, this is my hobby, I’ve got a full-time job on the side of it, if I’m enjoying it, what’s the point in putting pressure on myself, just try and enjoy it’.”
What also sets Thompson apart is that he is a late bloomer. Primarily a footballer in his youth as he attended school in Worksop, he only started running just over a decade ago.
“I started doing some competitions in secondary school, my teachers pushed me into competing or trying to find a club. It was just over 10 years ago, I went down to Rotherham Harriers, trained there for a couple of years and then crossed paths with my current coach John Henson who’s based in Sheffield.
“I think coming into it later has served me well, because I’m not that far deep into the sport that I’m sick of it, I’m still enjoying it, still learning.”
The long-term goal is to get into the team for the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028. Of more immediate concern is seizing the challenge in front of him, in the stadium where he made his Olympic debut four years ago.
“It’s almost poetic that it’s Tokyo where I’m back in the team,” says Thompson. “It’s been a lot of hard work to get here.
“Competing in the Olympics was a dream come true, but it will be nice to go again under a different set of circumstances.
“We’ve got a great squad and I think it’s capable of another British record. I think it’s capable of winning it, if I’m honest. If I can support that team and I can get a run in there somewhere, and when I get a run show what I’m capable of, have fun with it and bring back a medal, then I’ll be happy.
“Whether I run well, or whether I run badly, I’ve still got to log on at work on a Monday. The pressure is not financial for me, it’s a hobby and I get to enjoy it.”