Team GB pole vaulter almost crashes into camera then breaks down in tears in nightmare Olympics 2024 exit

4 months ago 30

TEAM GB star Holly Bradshaw broke down in tears after making a huge blunder in the pole vault.

The 32-year-old won bronze at the last Olympics – but it was heartbreak in Paris as she suffered a nightmare elimination.

a blurred image of a person jumping in front of a stadium that says paris sport

Holly Bradshaw nearly fell into the cameraman[/caption]

a woman jumps over a pole in front of a sign that says paris 2024

Bradshaw could not get over 4.40m[/caption]

a woman kneeling down on a track with a sign that says live

She was overcome with emotion as he Olympic dreams were shattered[/caption]

a woman in a great britain uniform is kneeling down

Bradshaw had to be consoled by Molly Caudery[/caption]

On her third and final attempt in qualification for the final, Bradshaw had it all to do after failing with her two previous efforts.

The bar was set at 4.40m and she needed to clear it to keep her medal dreams alive.

But it was disaster for the former British record holder as she came closer to falling into a cameraman rather than the mat.

She failed to build-up enough acceleration and bailed while on her way up over the bar.

Bradshaw crashed down before even getting close to high enough, falling to the right.

The athlete ended up landing on the grass – narrowly avoiding a painful collision with the TV camera.

Bradshaw picked herself up but was overcome with emotion as she broke down in tears.

While putting her pole away, the Preston-born star began to cry on the floor.

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She was consoled by fellow Brit Molly Caudery, who later suffered her own nightmare in the French capital.

Back in Tokyo, Bradshaw cleared 4.85m to come third.

But Paris was her last ever attempt at Olympics glory and she opened up on her disaster, saying: “I am just crushed. I knew this was going to be my last Champs.

“I am heartbroken. It’s been a really hard year and I wanted to come out and do myself proud – but I really feel like I haven’t.

“It was the first time I was pain free all year.

“I don’t really know what happened, I know it sounds daft but the track, the environment and everything was too good. I was caught on the back foot, which is frustrating.

“Mainly, I just wanted to come out and do my dad proud, he passed away in November. I really hope I did that although it didn’t go well.”

Team GB‘s pole vaulting hopes were then on the shoulders of possible medal winner Caudery in the second qualifying group.

But the world No1’s dreams were also shattered.

Caudery passed at the two opening heights, backing herself to clear the 4.55m which would have been enough to qualify for the final.

Yet it did not happen for her, despite having cleared 4.92m a few weeks ago.

It was head in hands for the 24-year-old as tears started to flow even as she tried to applaud the crowd.

a woman wearing a black tank top that says great britain

Molly Caudery also failed to make the final[/caption]

a woman wearing a black tank top that says team gb on it

The medal hopeful also began to cry[/caption]

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TODAY’S BRIT MEDAL HOPES

One of the hottest spectacles of Paris 2024 is the 1500m men’s final (7.50pm) – will it be gold for either Josh Kerr or Jakob Ingebrigtsen in their epic rivalry?

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Ben Maher on board Dallas Vegas Batilly is into the final of the individual jumping equestrian alongside Harry Charles and Scott Brash after coming through the 74-rider qualifying and could defend his Tokyo gold after already securing the team title in Paris (9am).

BRITS TO WATCH

Jack Laugher goes in the 3m springboard diving preliminaries with Jordan Houlden (9am) before Andrea Spendolini Sirieix goes in the 10m platform final (2pm).

Lewis Richardson is already guaranteed a bronze in the 71kg boxing but has his semi-final at Roland Garros at 8.45pm.

The women’s 200m gives Dina Asher-Smith a chance to make up for her disappointing 100m result (final 8.40pm).

Jack Carlin, Ed Lowe and Hamish Turnbull team up in the track cycling men’s team sprint today with the final at 7.10pm, hoping to wrestle back the gold they won in Beijing, London and Rio.

GLOBAL STARS TODAY

Emma Hayes’ USA women’s football team face Germany in the semi-final in Lyon (5pm).

Kellie Harrington will go for back-to-back Olympic gold medals in the ring with the Irish star’s 60kg final vs China’s Yang Wenlu at 10pm – two bouts after Imane Khelif’s 66kg semi-final.

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Follow all the action as it unfolds with our Paris 2024 Olympics LIVE blog.

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