FRIENDS and family of Olympic silver medallist Samantha Murray threw a homecoming party to celebrate the star’s success.

The 22-year-old modern pentathlete joined around 100 supporters at West Bradford Village Hall, near her hometown of Clitheroe, to show off her medal and thank those who had helped her on her way to success.

And it seems the Olympian is also inspiring her younger brothers William, 14, and Oliver, 13, who have their sights set on competing in the 2016 Olympics in Rio, alongside their big sister.

Samantha’s dad Silas said: “We are very, very proud of Samantha. There were about 30 of us in London supporting her and it was amazing.

“Everybody wanted to come and see her and we wanted to get everybody who has been involved with Samantha from the early days together to say thanks to them.

“Samantha has inspired a lot of young people and her brothers have definitely been inspired by her too.

“Oliver is a pentathlete and William is a national level swimmer, he is in the top five in the country. She has brought an Olympic medal within the realms of possibility for a lot of people.

“It brings it home that it is a thing of dreams, but it is attainable.”

Samantha will be heading back down to Bath University in October to continue with her degree in French and Politics and restart training for her five disciplines, which consist of pistol shooting, showjumping, running, freestyle swimming and fencing.

She said: “It was fantastic to see everybody, all my friends and family who I have not seen in ages.

“I have had loads of support and the party was a nice way to say thank you to everyone.”