By Hannah Blackwell
Jasmine Joyce admitted to feeling “numb” after suffering another Olympic heartbreak in a Great Britain shirt.
The Wales star, and her country’s best-known female rugby player, saw her quest for a medal crushed by a physical USA in the quarter-finals of the Olympic Games women’s Rugby Sevens at Stade de France.
The triple Olympian missed out on a medal in Rio in 2016 and Tokyo in 2021 when GB finished an agonising fourth on both occasions.
The flying wing had booked GB’s spot into the quarter-finals when her devastating pace earned her two tries against South Africa in a 26-17 victory in the final pool game.
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She also made an incredible try-saving tackle during the game against the USA but could not prevent her team from falling to a 17-7 defeat to the powerful Americans.
“I just feel quite numb, to come out here and not make top four is really disappointing,” said Joyce.
“Each and every one of us gave everything. You give everything in an Olympic Games, you really do put your body on the line for the team and everyone back at home and friends and family watching.
“We may not have a medal but we’ll always be an Olympian.”
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Great Britain will now play China in the 5th-place semi-final.
GB actually opened the scoring against USA in the quarter-final clash but the physicality of the Americans over powered a gallant GB side.
Naya Tapper, Kristi Kirshe and Sammy Sullivan ran in three unanswered tries for USA as they came from behind to book their place in the last four after Ellie Boatman had opened the scoring for Great Britain in an all-action last-eight encounter.
Ilona Maher came close to adding a fourth, but was chased down by Joyce in a physical and high-intensity encounter.
Tapper and Kirshe had been on the scoresheet in a losing cause when the two sides met in the medal quarter-final at Tokyo 2020 – but USA have had the better of more recent encounters, winning four of the five meetings in this year’s SVNS series, including at the Grand Final in Madrid.
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