Nicholas Buckland insisted he had nothing left to give as he and Penny Coomes met their pre-Games target of tenth in the ice dance at the Winter Olympics.
Ranked 11th after the short dance, Coomes and Buckland scored 91.78 for their Michael Jackson-inspired free dance for a combined total of 151.11.
That was enough to place them tenth – a massive improvement of ten places on what they achieved on their Winter Olympic debut in Vancouver in 2010.
And Buckland was satisfied to have given his all as their path to finishing in the top three at the next Winter Olympics in 2018 continues as they want it to.
“It is good to know that you have come off and have nothing left, you have given it all out there and that is what we wanted to do,” said Buckland.
“No matter what the marks, the performance, whatever – we wanted to give everything we have had and we did that.
“I have loved it. I really enjoyed our first Games in Vancouver. It is such a crazy experience when you come to the Olympics.
“I didn’t think it would be the same but I got exactly the same feeling – I was perhaps more excited.
“I felt Vancouver came sooner than expected, so in our plan Sochi would have been in our first Games. But everything seems to be mapping out like we want it to.”
Meanwhile, Coomes was so overcome with emotion after she and Buckland left the ice that she lost feeling in her legs.
“I gave it everything, the crowd really enjoyed it and they were with us and that really gave us a boost,” she said.
“I gave it everything. I couldn’t feel my legs when I got off. I couldn’t feel my feet, I just wanted to take my skates off.
“It has happened a couple of times but this was particularly bad.”
© Sportsbeat 2014