Football may be at the Olympics, but for one former England international another sport will have a lot more importance this summer
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We love a father-and-son sporting duo, and we'll see the latter half of one in action at the 2024 Olympics. Leeds fans in particular might want to keep their eyes on the athletics this summer in Paris.
And specifically the 1,500m and 5,00m: that's where George Mills, son of ex-Leeds and England defender Danny, will be competing for Team GB. The 25-year-old will be competing at the Games for the first time, having won 5,000m silver at the European Championships earlier this year.
George's Olympics debut comes 22 years after Danny played in all five of England's games at the 2002 World Cup. And the 19-time Three Lions international is a proud father right now.
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Giving an interview to talkSPORTalongside his son, Danny explained that George almost followed in his footsteps by becoming a professional footballer – before ultimately pursuing running. He said:
"Running is great for football, but football isn't great for running. If you want to take running seriously, you're going to have to give up football. For a 14/15-year-old to go from a team sport to an individual sport is a big leap."
Evidently, George made that leap successfully, thanks partly to the motivation of his dad. The pair would go out running together on family holidays, George explained, even if he "would try and sleep in" some mornings.
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However, it sounds like Danny would have preferred for George to become a footballer. Explaining his reasoning, he continued:
"Watching athletics is the worst... With football, if you make a mistake, you'll get another chance. If you miss an open goal, you'll get another opportunity.
"Watching athletics is a little bit like watching a sudden-death penalty shootout for about half an hour. It just goes on and on and on."
Tom Hancock started freelancing for FourFourTwo in April 2019 and has also written for the Premier League and Opta Analyst, among others. He supports Wycombe Wanderers and has a soft spot for Wealdstone. A self-confessed statto, he has been known to watch football with a spreadsheet (or several) open...
