I'm being awarded a retrospective bronze medal
from the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
I have nerves as if I'm competing,
it's really strange.
But it's a mixture of nerves and excitement,
because I think I've probably visualized that subconsciously
every day from the age of probably like 16.
I never, ever dreamt that I would win
an Olympic medal.
There are cheats, there are athletes who doped.
They were stripped from their medals.
The medal reallocation for that fair sport,
for that clean sport.
This is focused on the athletes
who haven't had that opportunity
to celebrate it.
it looks so far removed from kind of school sports days.
And these people competing at the Olympic games
almost look like demigods chiseled out of stone.
But then, when I was given this javelin,
I was just absolutely taken with it.
I loved the feeling of throwing
and I was actually handed a javelin
to take home over the school Easter holidays.
I was instantly taken with how I can get this
really awkward implement to fly a long way.
The reason she loved the javelin I think
is because it's almost an art form.
When you get that position absolutely right,
you hit that sweet spot, you know you've done it
and you know it's going to fly.
And that's a pretty special feeling,
and you know you did that... yourself, it was just you...
and this... spear.
I remember snippets of it as if it was yesterday.
In evening, the final was at 7:20 p.m.
It's gonna rain at 7.27 p.m.
So, I said to my coach, "Right, we've got one round
that's it."
Once it starts raining, the air gets heavy,
it's quite difficult to throw in those conditions.
I remember us both saying, "Well, you know, mid-sixties
we'll win a medal."
Spotakova had to throw pretty much a world record
in the final round in the last throw
of the competition to win the competition,
which she did.
And that was, you know, I've always had respect
for her, but that was, you know, massive respect
because that's pretty difficult to do in difficult conditions.
So, it was an amazing final and it was just frustrating
for me to come off the track,
thirty-eight centimeters off an Olympic medal,
when actually if you're talking about success...
it was a very, very successful competition.
And that's what's kind of weird in sport,
sometimes you can have an average day and win
and other times you can compete
out of your skin and come fourth.
People ask me a lot, you know, "What do you feel
about the Russian athlete who cheated?", and...
I think people find it a bit weird when I say
I don't have anything against her...
And I actually feel really sorry for her
that she never really got to know
how good she could've been on her own terms
and I remember actually standing in the stadium
watching the ceremony kind of thinking,
"I'm pretty sure I should be standing on the third place
rostrum", and....
I think it's that moment that you'll never get back
or you can't really recreate.
After 2008, having broken the British record,
I thought to myself, "Well, you know,
I've got a home Olympics to prepare for in 2012."
That Olympic cycle for me was very injury prone.
I had a stress fracture in my back.
I obliterated my left hip.
I'd partially torn an elbow ligament.
In warm up for the London Olympics,
I obviously threw with a bit more effort
and the partial tear
became a full-blown rupture.
That was the end of my Olympic dream.
I first heard about being upgraded
to the bronze medal from Beijing
when I was driving down the M11.
I got this call from my agent
saying, "Have you heard the news?"
And I could barely hear him.
He just said the word "Maria", and then I kind of knew
what he was gonna say next.
I don't know, it was just a whole heap of emotions.
I kinda laughed, cried.
And also just found it completely ridiculous
that I was in my car.
It was just very, very surreal.
I definitely missed out on a lot of things
not winning a medal.
I would've had more sponsorship and I think, you know,
financially, certainly, it would've made
a big, big difference. I don't know how much difference,
you can't ever put a figure on it.
The biggest thing for me is just missing out
on the moment at the time.
I'm sure Goldie would much rather have had the medal
when she should've got it in 2008.
I think the next best thing is to get it in front
of your own home crowd,
you know, in the London Olympic Stadium
at your own home sport.
I think she has bought half the audience today.
We’re interrupting this afternoon's
anniversary games to recognize and celebrate the achievements
of Goldie Sayers.
On behalf of the British Olympic Association,
Team GB fans worldwide, and I'm sure
all of you either watching on television
or with us here in the stadium today,
may I offer Goldie all our congratulations
on her long overdue achievement.
Still at the back of the podium
thinking, "Take it all in, take it all in",
and then got really, really emotional.
Really emotional.
Athletics, Women's Javelin Throw,
Goldie Sayers, bronze.
Sport has definitely shaped me as a person.
I think it's just taught me that you can achieve,
I don't know about anything, but certainly a lot more
than you can imagine.