Sophie Capewell broke down in tears as she paid tribute to her late father in the aftermath of Team GB’s victory in an historic women’s team sprint final at the Paris Olympics.
New Zealand’s trio started the stronger of the two teams before Britain fought back to set an astonishing time of 45.186 seconds in the velodrome, their third world record in as many rides.
The win secured Britain’s first ever medal in the women’s version of the event, with Katy Marchant, Emma Finucane and Capewell’s triumph taking Team GB’s overall haul to 11 gold medals at this summer’s Games.
Speaking to BBC Sport shortly after the final, an emotional Capewell could not hold back the tears as she bemoaned the absence of her father Nigel, who died in 2021.
‘The support, the journey to get here, for everyone has been up and down,’ Capewell said.
‘I’ve had my own personal battles and I wish my dad was up there in the stands watching it. He would be super proud of me.
‘It didn’t feel real all day. We did every ride and it was like, “Oh… faster, oh… faster again! Oh… we’re top of the time sheets!”, but we stuck to our processes.’
Capewell’s team-mate, Finucane, meanwhile, said it was a ‘dream come true’ to win gold on the biggest stage.
‘Honestly we’ve been working really hard on this and you will hear this a lot from us but the process is really key.
‘We nailed that final and I believed in us before we went up to do it but to execute lap one, lap two and lap three pretty much perfectly and then to cross the line first, I was like ‘no way’.
‘It’s just a dream come true and to have these two by my side is unreal.’
In the BBC Sport studio, Team GB legend Dame Laura Kenny congratulated Capewell on coming through such a tough few years to achieve such extraordinary success.
‘She’s on the podium with two of her closest friends. She’s been through so many ups and down over the last few years,’ Kenny told Gabby Logan.
‘It must be so difficult seeing everyone celebrating with their family knowing that your dad isn’t there so that’s obviously why she’s so upset.
‘For them now, they look absolutely delighted.’
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