Francois Nel/Getty Images Over the years, we've seen athletes celebrating too early and having it come back to bite them. From football players celebrating before they reached the end zone, only to get tackled - or worse - tackled and stripped of the ball, to baseball players pimping a home run, only for the ball to come up short, it happens across sports. Even in competitive race walking.
This weekend, Spanish race walker Laura García-Caro thought she had the bronze medal at the European Athletics Championship locked up. She began to celebrate ahead of the finish line, only to be overtaken late. Ukraine's Lyudmila Olyanovska came out of nowhere - in Garcia-Caro's mind, at least - to overtake the Spanish race walker and win the bronze medal for herself.
Garcia-Caro's reaction to the stunning finish has gone viral on social media. “I am quite disappointed. The first part of the race I suffered, but (I did) recover and in the last 10 meters I thought I had it, but I didn’t,” 29-year-old García-Caro said, according to Sky News .
“Now I have to assimilate [what happened] and heal my heart.” NEW: Spanish speed walker 'finds out' after premature celebration during the women’s 20km race walk at the first medal event of the European Championships. Oof.
Laura Garcia-Caro was seen smiling, punching the air and sticking out her tongue. The celebration was short-lived as..
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com/y586vfdtBG Olyanovska, meanwhile, was thrilled. “Of course, I was tired in the la.