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Olympics 2024: Track cyclist Emma Finucane wins third medal

PARIS -- Team GB track cyclist Emma Finucane claimed her third medal of the Paris Olympics on the final day of the Games as she took bronze in the women's sprint on Sunday.

She becomes the first British woman since track athlete Mary Rand in 1964 to win three medals at an Olympic Games.

Finucane already had a gold from the women's team sprint event and an individual bronze from the women's keirin. It represents a solid medal haul from Finucane's debut Games.

The 21-year-old arrived in Paris with sky-high external expectations, with Laura Kenny claiming she could have been on to be the first British woman to win three Olympic golds at a single Games. Despite Finucane's obvious talent, these Games showed how difficult that can be to do.

When asked what she has learned from this week, Finucane said: "I've learned that emotions aren't a negative and they mean you're not weak.

"I've cried a lot this week, and it just shows that I'm strong enough to get it out and reset for me to be able to cry and then get on the track and reset and go again.

"I think that's really important and speak to people and let it out. It's a long week. I've raced for seven days now, and my mind's been on a mad one. I've just learned a lot about myself that I'll take forward for the coming years."

Finucane came into Sunday's final day at the velodrome hoping to add to her gold-medal tally, although she could not overcome eventual champion Ellesse Andrews of New Zealand. She later beat Netherlands' Hetty van de Wouw in the bronze-medal race.

"I wasn't actually crying at the pressure," Finucane said. "I was crying because I was exhausted and my mind was just telling me things like, you can't do it. But then I was like, I want to do it. It goes into many things.

"The pressure I've dealt with pretty well this week. It was more my internal pressure and how I want to deliver myself, and my legs screaming at me, telling me to stop, but I was like, 'I need to keep going.' It's been many emotions."

Meanwhile, Team GB's Jack Carlin suffered a crash in the final bend of the men's keirin and had to receive treatment on the ground before eventually walking off the track.

Carlin has two medals -- a silver and a bronze -- from the men's team and individual sprint events.

It caps a week of mixed results at the velodrome for Team GB, who leave with eight medals overall -- one gold, three silvers and four bronze.