Team GB golden girl Emma Finucane opens up about body image and tells how track cycling not only brought her Olympic glory but love too in an exclusive interview with HELLO!
For our photoshoot, the Welsh athlete hopped back onto the same bike she rode to victory at the velodrome in Paris, where she made history by becoming the first British woman in 60 years to win a hat-trick of medals in any sport at a single Games – gold in the team sprint alongside Katy Marchant and Sophie Capewell and individual bronzes in sprint and keirin.
“It’s been incredible,” Emma, 21, says of her Olympic debut. “I just wish I could bottle all the emotion and the feelings I had that week. I felt overwhelmed and emotional standing on the podium with my two closest friends, singing the national anthem, after working so hard together. You just feel complete. “I was like: ‘How is this my life? I’ve done it; I’ve become Olympic champion and my dream since I was about ten years old has come true.’ It’s an incredible feeling and I’ll remember it for the rest of my life.”
Emma, who also holds the world and European champion titles, as well as the British world record, tells how she has learned to love her strong, muscular legs.
“When I was growing up, I didn’t want to have big legs; it scared me,” she says. “But I knew that to be a sprinter, I needed bigger legs, because my body is like a tool that I need to be strong. I’m proud of my body, because it does things I never thought I’d be able to do, like break world records or go really fast on the track. So I’d say to any little girl out there: ‘Just give it a go.’ And it doesn’t matter what you look like, because you’re really strong, you’re really powerful and you’re using your body to perform, and that’s a pretty special thing.”
And she tells how her British-born track cyclist boyfriend Matt Richardson, 25, who won three medals for Australia, is now living with her in Manchester after joining Team GB following the Games.
“He’s always dreamed of competing for Team GB one day,” she says. “After Paris, he felt as though it was the right moment to chase his dream, and it’s a bonus that I’m part of that too. It’s exciting for us both, and it will be nice to spend more time with him.
“We just click; he’s outgoing and he’s passionate about cycling. He brings out the best in me. He’s going to stay with me for a little while, but we’re not going to live together because I’m 21 and it’s gone from long-distance to this, so we just want to date and go out for dinner and get to know each other.”
For the full interview and photoshoot see this week’s HELLO! Magazine. Bike supplied by British Cycling.