One of the universal rules of performance sports is: never celebrate too early. For information, ask cyclists who raise their arms too early and get caught at the finish line. Or, as of yesterday, to the Spanish marcher Laura Garcia-Caro. Her hallucinated face at the finish line of the 20 km of the European Championships in Rome is already a meme and has gone around the web.
What happened
We are at the end of the 20 km walk, largely dominated by Antonella Palmisano. Less than 2 km from the finish the fight for silver is resolved in favor of the other Italian Valentina Trapletti, who takes the lead Laura Garcia-Caro and flies towards the stadium complete with flag. At that point the Spaniard is certain in her heart of the bronze, still an important medal, the first at a high level for the 29 year old from Huelva. Happy with third place, Garcia-Caro also equips herself with the flag and only has to take a few more steps to reach the finish line when she starts cheering and looking at the stopwatch on her wrist. She doesn’t notice, or only notices at the finish line, the Ukrainian Olyanovska. “I didn’t even look at the big screen in the stadium” said Garcia-Caro, “I was focused on getting to the finish line. And, yes, maybe they gave me the Spanish flag too early, when I entered the stadium, but at no point did I I felt like I was on the podium ahead of time.” Her face disfigured by her disappointment instead went around the world. In the end Olyanovska third, Garcia-Caro fourth.
The sprint for silver in the 4×400 mixed
Something similar happened at the end of the 4×400 mixed race. Italy and Holland practically reached the finish line in the sprint for silver behind the surprising Irish relay team. The blue Alice Mangione she defended second place with her teeth from the onslaught of the formidable orange runner Femke Bol, who was making a furious comeback. Mangione practically didn’t see Bol arriving, but he kept a few centimeters of advantage to cross the finish line in front. 4 cents is the difference between a second and third place.
