Team GB cycling star Josh Tarling couldn’t stop ‘swearing’ after being robbed of an Olympic gold medal at Paris 2024 due to a mechanical misfortune.
Tarling was hoping to become Britain’s first gold medallist on Saturday and headed into the men’s individual time trial event as a huge pre-race favourite.
The 20-year-old track and road cyclist suffered a brutal front-wheel puncture, though, finishing down in fourth to miss out on a podium finish altogether.
Tarling was left incredibly upset and looked very forlorn as he spoke to the media afterwards, clearly frustrated at the incident, given he was expected to land gold.
The Welshman revealed that he ‘swearing a lot’ when the puncture occurred, as he sat on his bike knowing just how much it would cost him.
With his rain jacket pulled up to his mouth, the young Team GB star said: ‘I had a front puncture, it was on the rim. I knew I had to change before that corner, I had no choice really and then try my best.’
Asked how he responded to the puncture, Tarling added: ‘A lot of swearing. There’s not a lot I can do, it’s a bit of bad luck so we move on to the road race… I’m going to keep trying my best then we’ll see.’
A number of pundits and cyclists expressed their sympathy for Tarling following the brutal puncture.
‘That is heartbreaking for Josh Tarling,’ Commonwealth cycling bronze-medallist Hayley Simmonds told the BBC.
‘Two seconds and it was that puncture, but that is cycling. It is such a cruel sport sometimes and Josh will be thinking about that for a while, I would imagine.
‘You have 32.5km of road and you could hit a tiny bit of glass that is on the road from one of the cafes or the bars, and that is it.
‘That is your Olympic dream over for another four years. But, for him, it is only the start.
‘He is already a European champion, he has got many more Olympics in him, but it is harsh.’
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