Olympic gold medallist Lauren Price gets a phone box to match

Published1 hour ago

image sourceHuw Fairclough/Getty Images

image captionLauren Price rings in the changes of her Olympic win from her gold phone box

Olympic gold medallist Lauren Price's fans have marked her win in Tokyo by painting a phone box gold.

The boxer put Caerphilly county's Ystrad Mynach on the map when she beat China's Li Qian to take the top spot on the podium.

The 27-year-old was overjoyed to see Gelligaer community council had done up a booth to match her medal.

"That's brilliant, thank you so much," the hard-hitter wrote on Facebook in response to a picture of it.

She told BBC Wales she was on the street when she saw it being painted.

"I was gobsmacked really, over the moon as well," she said.

The box is near where her grandmother lives.

"Every time she sees it, it will be a nice memory for her," Lauren said.

"She is very proud of me and happy".

As much as she loved the phone box, the fighter admitted it had not quite topped the medal.

"I've got to go for the medal, haven't I?" she said, adding she was was "grateful and thankful" for the phone box.

Gelligaer council clerk Ceri Mortimer was behind the idea to paint the box, on Penallta Road in Ystrad Mynach.

She watched Price's win on TV as it happened.

She said: "It is a massive achievement and she is a local girl and deserves recognition.

"We support her and we are all absolutely thrilled for her".

It was "quite emotional" when the star returned after her victory.

"She is lovely and humble," said the council clerk.

She said the middleweight had been chatting with some of the painters as they worked this week.

"She knows a couple of them," she added.

"She loves it, she is over the moon".

image sourceHuw Fairclough/Getty Images

image captionThe star thought it "brilliant" her community had painted a phone box gold in honour of her win

It was "lovely" for the community too.

"It will be there for ever more, and gold for ever more," said Ms Mortimer.

"After the year we have had with Covid, it is a bit of hope and excitement, and it has been infectious".

The idea for the box, owned by Gelligaer community council, came about after Royal Mail painted pillar boxes gold after London 2012.

It congratulated "all British Olympians" on their performances in Tokyo, but said it would not be doing any painting this year.

"London 2012 was a unique occasion," a spokesman said.

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