With the closing of the successful Rio Olympics, the country can quite understandably be very proud of our record haul of medals, but like most things, behind every medal is a story of dedication, determination and hard work.
It all boils down to such a short time in the spotlight, which determines success or failure and behind every medal is a story that hardly ever gets told.
Many readers of The Looker are aware that we have our very own Olympic ‘Champion’ in the form of Lee Pullen. Lee has worked tirelessly coaching our Olympic Boxing squad over the past two Olympics and is recognised as part of the winning team.
Lee who now lives in Folkestone, went to Southlands Comprehensive School and was bought up in Littlestone, where he had his own gym at the bottom of his garden.
Lee has worked full-time with the GB Boxing squad since March 2010 and coached boxers throughout the build-up to the 2012 Olympics and at the Games itself where the team delivered Great Britain’s best boxing performance for over 100 years. He also coaches the British Lionhearts team that participates in the World Series of Boxing.
Before this, Lee worked part-time coaching boxers that competed for Great Britain and, over a 10 year period, he worked with numerous boxers that went on to be Olympic and world Championship medallists including Frankie Gavin, Tony Jeffries, Audley Harrison and Amir Khan. Lee has been a coach for more than 20 years and started out at Folkestone Boxing Club in Kent. He also boxed for England as an amateur.
The Looker sent congratulations to Lee after he posted on his Facebook page a picture with Team GB’s athletic golden boy Mo Farah along with other medal winners from Rio.
Our Editor David Wimble said: “Lee has always been keen to promote boxing, I remember interviewing him a few years ago on the radio, and he said it was more scary than fighting in the ring. He is a credit to the Folkestone Boxing Club, who he represented in competitions over the years before he went into coaching.”