Tokyo 2020 - 'I'm not complaining, I was on crutches five weeks ago!' - Dina Asher-Smith on Olympic relay bronze
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Updated 06/08/2021 at 17:22 GMT
Asher-Smith revealed last week that she tore her hamstring at the end of June, as she pulled out of the 200m having failed to make the 100m final. But she returned to help her British team-mates to 4x100m relay bronze, matching the achievement from Rio 2016. You want it? We have it. Stream every Olympic event live on discovery+.
'We've done our country and ourselves proud' - Team GB 4X100m women celebrate bronze
Dina Asher-Smith says she's not going to complain about an Olympic bronze medal in the 4x100m relay, having nearly missed out on Tokyo 2020.
The 200m world champion was not able to go for Olympic gold in the same event, pulling out after missing out on a place in the 100m final after revealing she was touch-and-go for the Games having torn her hamstring at the end of June.
But she ran the third leg to help Asha Philip, Imani Lansiquot and Daryll Neita to a third place finish, as Jamaica continued their dominance in women's sprint racing in Tokyo by taking gold ahead of the USA.
"I’m not complaining, I was on crutches five weeks ago!" she told Eurosport, as Britain matched their achievement of bronze from Rio 2016.
There was a like a 10% chance I was going to be here so yeah I’m happy. Obviously I’m a competitor so my first reaction when we crossed the line was ah, was that as perfect as possible, was that as high as high as we could get in the finish as possible.
"But when you take a step back, after the 18 months that as a world, as a country we’ve all had, we’ve done ourselves and our country proud. We’ve come away with global medals for both the men and the women’s team again."
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'Tremendous' - Jamaica's women storm to 4x100m glory, Britain settle for bronze
Asher-Smith said last weekend that she would compete in the relay and she made good on that promise. Neita says that the Team GB athletics captain led by example: "To me it’s impressive, it’s incredible.
She could have just been doing her own thing but she has been training her butt off to be in this relay, she told us that she’s going to be ready, she’s going to be here and that just shows the amazing character and athlete that she is.
"Thank you so much for being part of this because it’s a team effort and we all need each other."
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'Real struggle' - Nightmare for Asher-Smith as she fails to make 100m final
It capped an impressive Games for Neita, who says she is on "Cloud 9" having reached her maiden Olympic individual final and run under 11 seconds for the first time.
But hearts were in the mouths of British fans when Philip and Lansiquot came close to a disqualification on the first changeover, which was dangerously close to escaping the permitted zone.
"I remember watching these girls five years ago in Rio and one thing I always say is if you can see it, you can be it," said Lansiquot, who was the only member of the Tokyo quartet not involved in the Rio race.
"I was going to fight and work as hard as hard as I could, I can’t believe that we’re Olympic medallist, I’m just so, so proud right now. To come away with a medal knowing we haven’t run a perfect race is just testament to who we are as athletes."
As for Philip, she said the team were content with bronze, but admitted it could have been better: "We just want to do well, we got bronze last time so we wanted to get that one step better.
"After the heat, we had such great confidence and we were excited and we wanted to give that extra push. We always want more and unfortunately it didn’t show, but we got a medal and we’re grateful for that.
"We really worked hard and we deserve it. We love running as a team, we love training together, it sucks a little bit because we just wanted that little bit more but we are truly happy."
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