Finucane says it’s ‘like a dream’ as she wins her third medal
EMMA Finucane became the first British woman in 60 years to win three medals at a single Olympics as she took bronze in the individual sprint yesterday.
The 21-year-old, the reigning world champion, saw off Dutch rider Hetty van de Wouw, to add to her team sprint gold and keirin bronze. Back in 1964, Mary Rand won a gold, silver and a bronze for Great Britain in Tokyo.
“Honestly, it’s just like a dream,” said Finucane, pictured left.
“Obviously, I would have loved to win that gold medal, but gold and two bronzes is more than I could have dreamed of.”
At an Olympics where Britain’s cyclists have been unable to live up to their own recent standards – finishing the Games with only two gold medals having had six at both Rio and Tokyo, eight each in Beijing and Rio – Finucane has been among the highlights on her debut at this level.
“I’ve learned that emotions aren’t a negative and they mean you’re not weak,” Finucane added. “I’ve cried a lot this week, and it just shows that I’m strong enough to get it out and reset.”
New Zealand’s Ellesse Andrews stormed to gold, comfortably beating Lea Friedrich in the final after seeing off Finucane in the semi-finals.
Jack Carlin crashed out of the men’s keirin final in what turned into a painful competition for Team GB.
Carlin initially struggled to get up after the high speed incident on the final bend of the race but eventually walked off the track without need of the waiting stretcher.
Earlier Carlin’s team-mate Hamish Turnbull, from Morpeth, crashed heavily in his semi-final after trying to avoid an incident involving Germany’s Luca Spiegel. After the crash, Turnbull did not take part in the race to determine the 7th to 12th places.
A British rider had won the men’s keirin at each of the past four Olympics. But, as expected, victory here went to Dutchman Harrie Lavreysen.