Garcia-Caro believed she had won herself a place on the podium at the European Athletics Championship in Rome – but premature celebrations cost her the bronze medal.
Spanish race walker Laura Garcia-Caro stuck her tongue out and punched a fist in the air thinking she had won a bronze medal at the European Athletics Championship – only to realise seconds later that she had been overtaken.
The 29-year-old athlete was beaming and convinced she had secured third place in the last five metres of the women’s 20km race walk at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome on Friday.
But Garcia-Caro’s joy at winning a medal turned to horror when she looked to her right and saw Ukraine’s Lyudmila Olyanovska bridging the gap between them.
The Ukrainian overtook Garcia-Caro with only two metres left to the finish line.
“I am quite disappointed. The first part of the race I suffered, but [I did] recover and in the last 10 metres I thought I had it but I didn’t,” Garcia-Caro told local media.