Team GB's Knight on Ireland's new velodrome | "I'll believe it when I see it"

Josie Knight has said she had to leave Team Ireland over inadequate resources and would believe Ireland has a new velodrome when she sees it (Photo: Lorraine O'Sullivan)

Josie Knight - the former Team Ireland rider who switched to Great Britain and won bronze at the OIympics - has said she was delighted to claim a medal alongside her team pursuit team mates.

The gold and silver went to the United States and New Zealand respectively, with Knight and her fellow British riders beating Italy in the battle for bronze.

It was a very impressive achievement by the British - even if Team GB holds gold as the standard - as they were forced to plan without Katie Archibald. She suffered a freak fall at home six weeks ago, suffering two broken bones in her lower leg and tearing ligaments.

"I'm over the moon to be here with a medal around my neck, it's never easy," said Knight, who was born in the UK before her family moved to Dingle, Co Kerry, though she has previously said she "felt British" rather than Irish when riding for Ireland.

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"So much hard work goes into it and you're never guaranteed that you're going to come away with anything, and especially being in a bronze medal ride-off," she added of taking bronze, three years after silver in Tokyo.

"You know, if feels like there's so much on the line, you're not guaranteed a medal, you've gotta really fight for that bronze. I'm super proud that we managed to fight for it. My second Olympic medal, from a girl who grew up in Dingle, it's quite incredible."

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Knight - unsure if she will continue to the Los Angeles Games in four years - said she felt particularly sorry for Archibald, who she shares a house with in the UK.

"She broke her ankle and we had to just refocus and re-strategise and basically come up with a new team. And we did that and I'm just so over the moon that we medaled," she said.

And though now racing for Great Britain, Knight said she would always call Ireland home. "I was born in the UK but I lived in Dingle, Co Kerry, since I was 1½," she explained, adding she felt she had to switch allegiance to progress.

"But, just, team pursuit is the event that I do and at the time, when I was wanting to progress my career, there wasn't… there's not a velodrome in Ireland.

"There just wasn't the resources or the support that I needed. And I made the decision to switch and I'm very grateful that I did it, but Dingle is my home."

When it was put to Knight - by RTÉ Sport reporter Siobhan Madigan - that funding had now been secured to build a velodrome in Ireland and whether she looked forward to coming to Ireland to ride on it, she replied:

"Absolutely, yeah. But I'll believe it when I see it. But I look forward to riding in an Irish velodrome, for sure."