'I do look back and wonder about Tokyo' - Tom Bosworth on life after competing, working as an agent and growing the sport of race-walking

Then a minute or so into the answer, after recounting with enormous pride how a scrawny kid from Kent who perfected his pursuit in Leeds went onto achieve far more than he could ever dare dream, a rueful sigh escapes him.

“I always look back and wonder though,” he laments. “Covid was such a difficult time, people had it a lot, lot worse than me, but knowing the form I was in back in March 2020, setting the world lead and the British record in the space of six days, it makes me sigh now wondering what might have been had the Olympics gone ahead as scheduled.

“In 2021 I tried to chase that fitness again, meaning I ended up getting injured and finishing 20th or something in the delayed Games in Tokyo.

“My only advice to myself would be to chill out during Covid and know that I could get back there - but that’s life.”

It is only a minor irritation for an athlete who dominated his discipline for a decade.

For Bosworth, who moved north to Leeds Carnegie University at age 18 to combine studies with the pursuit of his athletic career, is a two-time Olympian (25th in those delayed Games in Tokyo, sixth in Rio), a Commonwealth Games silver medallist on the Gold Coast, a British record holder and winner of 21 national titles.

“I loved sport when I was a kid and I always wanted to do it,” he says. “I tried athletics, I wanted to play football, tried gymnastics - I was a scrawny kid, I’ve always been skinny and everything I did was at a really low level.

“So every time I accomplished something I was blown away that I’d managed to achieve it. Those goals just became going to an Olympic Games, or winning a medal, or breaking a world record.”

Race walking gave Bosworth a good life, and he is giving as much back to the sport as he possibly can.

If anything, he is busier now than when he was competing, setting himself up as a sports agent and also trying to raise the participation numbers in race walking.

“Right now I’m on a mission with walking, whether that be getting people to go out walking the dog or even just a mile on your lunch break, right up to working with some of the governing bodies in the home nations to get more race walk coaches and race walk clubs off the ground,” says Bosworth.

“I’ve been going into established athletics clubs, to already established coaches and saying I can mentor anybody who wants to be trained up in race walking, if you commit to this we’re looking at getting some incentives for the athletics club.

“It’s not a one-off taster event because there won’t be much in the way of a follow-on session, but if you commit a coach to it and some athletes, even though it is a very hard sport, because there isn’t the depth in it we could easily get someone on an international team very quickly. Winning national medals will hopefully be quite attractive to local athletics clubs.

“Covid really hit race walking numbers, so this has been a passion of mine.

“All of track and field suffered - it’s alright for sprinting and middle distance events to rebound because they’re popular events, but for a lot of the others, it’s been tough.”

Becoming an agent is another way to try and grow his sport.

Bosworth continues: “Even though race walking was not the most known event, I managed to put it on the map a bit and market it, but I don’t think athletics does that at all well.

“For the sport to survive you need household names and you need be creative about it.

“And also I just want to see athletes treated correctly and fairly, it’s their career at the end of the day.

“The sport doesn’t offer many coaching roles, and I didn’t fancy a political role in sport - not yet anyway, so the agent work keeps me in the sport.

“I’m really enjoying it. I’m putting together a small and quality field, trying to put athletes and the coaches first.”

Busier than ever, then, which is probably a good thing with the next summer Olympics just eight months away and the competitive instincts kicking in.

“I’m just about at peace with the decision,” he says when asked about retiring at age 32. “I was more at peace with it when I first retired than I am 16 months on, I’ll be honest. Olympic year has begun and I just want to be away training with all my focus on that one day next year.

“I always hoped I’d go to a third Olympics but my body in 2021/22 was just begging me to stop, so I am a lot happier now and in a lot less pain. I was averaging about half a marathon a day, every day, and that takes its toll on your body.”

Not enough to force him out of the sport altogether, for which race walking should be grateful.