Paris Olympics 2024: Cumbria star misses out on medal

That comes after Fiona Crackles and Team GB's women's hockey side lost 3-1 in the quarter finals on Monday to The Netherlands.

Crackles, a 24-year-old who hails from Kirkby Lonsdale, was making her second appearance at the Olympics, having come into the squad for the Tokyo games three years ago.

There were hopes to build upon the bronze medal she and Team GB earned last time out, something which would have been possible had they made it to the next round.

However, they were coming up against a Netherlands side who had made it to seven semi-finals in a row coming into the match on Monday afternoon (August 5).

Crackles (right) during GB's Pool B victory against the USA (Image: BBC)

Knowing that they were underdogs, it was all a matter of staying in the game for Team GB for as long as possible.

Those plans stayed alive for just 46 seconds, before one long pass from Yibbi Jansen gave Xan de Waard enough time to turn and smash the ball past Miriam Pritchard in goal.

GB could have despaired about the situation, ruing how easy it was for the Dutch contingent to slice through their defence.

Paris Olympics 2024: Cumbria star into hockey quarter finals | The Mail (nwemail.co.uk)

But a stubborn and resilient performance ensued from that point onwards, which eventually earned them a deserved equaliser.

An element of pinball occurred in the box before it eventually fell kindly for Hannah French, the sort of fortune that had GB level as half-time approached.

It was a half that ended very much like how it started, however, when Noa Fukke pounced with 21 seconds left on the clock.

And Fukke repeated the trick just one minute into the final quarter, consigning GB to defeat that means both the men's and women's sides have failed to medal for the first time since Beijing 2008.

It is a 13th consecutive defeat for the women against the Dutch since final success at Rio in 2016, who will take on Argentina in the last four.