Mira Potkonen's boxing career ended with a loss, but she also made Olympic history by becoming the oldest boxer ever to have won a medal.
The 40-year-old fighter lost to Brazilian Beatriz Ferreira, 28, in the 60kg lightweight semi-final at the Tokyo Olympics on Thursday morning (Finnish time).
Potkonen had already secured a medal in the previous round after beating Turkey's Esra Yildiz on Tuesday.
Following Thursday's loss, Potkonen was very emotional during an interview with Yle Sport.
"It was disappointing that I couldn't manage it. There were higher stakes but it just didn't happen and it was annoying," a teary-eyed Potkonen said.
"I don't know what I'm going to do after tomorrow. I put everything into the match, into this Olympic dream and wanted to believe that I'd win until the very end. Then I ended up with bronze in my hand. This is not what I wanted," she said.
Potkonen, who will turn 41 in November, found herself at the upper age bracket for Olympic boxers, as the technical limit for fighters at the games is 40. However, because the competition was postponed by a year due to the coronavirus pandemic, she was allowed to take part this summer.
Apart from taking a bronze medal on Thursday, Potkonen also won bronze at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, which was Finland's only medal of the games, and therefore she makes another little bit of history by becoming the first Finnish female to win medals at consecutive Olympics.
