An athletic couple, set to marry next month, received the worst possible send-off from the Paris Olympics after being disqualified before their race even began.
Team GB athletes John Gimson and Anna Burnet seemed to be living the dream. Their wedding is next month, and they had the opportunity to represent their country at the 2024 Paris Olympics with the potential to earn a medal.
The sailors came to Paris hoping to emulate their success from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where they secured a silver medal in the mixed multihull sailing event.
However, they confessed to being ‘heartbroken’ upon realizing that a mistake in the double-points medal race had dashed their hopes of a podium finish this year.
The duo were ruled to have been over the line when the starting horn sounded.
According to the race rules, they were required to return and perform a 360-degree turn before restarting the race.
Unfortunately, unaware of their mistake, they continued racing only to be later informed by the umpire that they had been disqualified.
Speaking to the BBC after returning to shore, the pair were visibly upset about the outcome.
Gimson remarked: “[This has been] the most brutal way to lose because it is so out of our control. I’m so proud of this week, how we sailed.
“To be honest, I felt so in control of ourselves going into that start, [we knew] what the plan was, where the Kiwis were… and yeah.
“We made one mistake and it’s cost us an Olympic medal so you can imagine we’re pretty broken.”
Burnet echoed her soon-to-be husband’s sentiments, offering an optimistic outlook for the future.
The Scotswoman stated: “In that moment it’s devastating, it’s a bad dream but we can just be proud of what we have done.
“We have been on the podium almost every single regatta this campaign. We are Olympic silver medalists from Tokyo.
“You know, that is sport, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t and today it didn’t.
“We are so lucky that we get to do this together. Sport has been brutal but life goes on and we’ll get married and life will be great. It’s brutal but that’s all it is.”
That’s a commendable attitude to maintain, despite the setback.
On social media, fans have been offering words of encouragement to the athletic couple, insisting that they have made Great Britain proud, regardless of the result.