Jack Laugher takes his place among Yorkshire's greatest ever Olympians

By sealing a bronze with City of Leeds clubmate Anthony Harding in the 3m synchro, the 29-year-old who was born in Harrogate, raised in Ripon and spent countless hours at the John Charles Aquatics Centre in Leeds, has underlined his status as a White Rose county legend.

Eight years after delivering Britain’s first Olympic gold medal in diving with Chris Mears, Laugher returned to the same event and took home a bronze, he and Harding nailing their hardest dive to confirm their place on the podium.

In between those two synchro medals, Laugher won a silver in the individual 3m springboard in Rio and a bronze in Tokyo five years later, that latter medal proving a cathartic one after a spell of self-doubt and self-exploration for the Yorkshireman.

Friday’s bronze draws him alongside track cyclist Ed Clancy on four Olympic medals, one ahead of triathlete Jonny Brownlee and rower Andrew Triggs Hodge, all of whom claimed their accolades in the last few Games, which goes to emphasise the rich seam of athletic talent this county has produced in the last quarter of a century.

It also extends the City of Leeds club’s proud record of not only producing Olympians but also since Laugher started getting onto the podium, medallists as well.

Laugher and Harding are the fourth British synchro pair to win medals in Paris, after the bronze last Saturday morning for City of Sheffield’s Yasmin Harper and Scarlett Mew Jensen in the women’s equivalent, plus a silver for Tom Daley and Noah Williams of the 10m board and bronze for Lois Toulson and Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix.

Yorkshire had representation in three of those four pairings, with Leeds the training base for three of them.

“I’d have never heard the end of it if I didn’t get one and she did!” joked Laugher who is Toulson’s boyfriend.

“Lois, myself and Anthony, we’re a small little training group in Leeds with our coach Adam Smallwood.

“We’ve got a wonderful, fantastic group. As a group, Tony’s got a medal, I’ve got a medal and Lois has got one as well.

“But on a personal note for me and Lois, it’s a wonderful achievement.

“I know how much it meant to her and two medals between us is wonderful with more events to go, so who knows.”

Both have their individual events to come over the final week in Paris; Toulson’s 10m competition begins on Monday with Laugher in the 3m - City of Sheffield’s Jordan Houlden is also in that event - commencing on Tuesday.

As is the status he has earned for himself, Laugher will be a medal contender in that as well and can draw level with Tom Daley on five medals won by a British diver.

It is all a far cry from the raw teenager who smacked the water in frustration when he slipped off the diving board in the preliminary round of the 3m springboard back at London 2012.

That show of frustration was a glimpse into how much it meant to him and also how much it has driven him to perfection at subsequent Olympics.

His maturing as a person, as well as an athlete, has been a sight to behold.

The question now is, after four Olympic medals and countless accolades from world and European championships and Commonwealth Games, how much longer does the great of Great Britain have left in him?

He said: “I’m approaching 30, but I’m not putting any finishing line on it yet.

"I’m open to the future, I just want to keep going and keep working hard.”