A phone call from her mum helped Beth Munro deal with a difficult day at the Grand Palais where she lost her Paralympic taekwondo medal. 

The returning silver medallist from Tokyo, Munro was defeated in her opening encounter to set up a repechage meeting with Lisa Kjaer, the Dane who beat her to gold three years ago. 

Nursing a case of deja vu, the Liverpudlian suffered a 10-2 loss to end her hopes of a second Paralympic medal. 

“I gave my family a call in between just because of the elements of guilt and disappointment and you feel as if you’ve let people down,” said Munro, who is part of Aldi’s Nearest and Dearest programme in partnership with Team GB, helping to maximise support and minimise potential distractions for athletes so that they can focus on their performance. 

“The reassurance from my mum that she’s always going to be proud of me no matter what happens, you just need to hear that from your mum sometimes.  

“And it’s the same for everyone else in my family. I still feel that element of guilt of letting the coach and everyone down, but unfortunately, it didn’t go my way. 

“It was like a déjà vu reflection because she has not fought in the last year or so, she has been quite off the grid, but there are other things in life other than taekwondo that people have.  

“It was nice to have her here and come against her again and put some things into play. I just didn’t do well enough today and I’m happy to admit that.

“It’s all on me and my coach and the staff around me, they’ve done excellent. My team and all the training partners that we have to do what I do today, and I didn’t do them justice and I do apologise for that.  

“I’ll take it with me and move forward.” 

Munro was the first British person to win a Para taekwondo Paralympic medal when the sport made its debut in Tokyo, but could not follow up as the country’s first champion despite going in as the top seed  

The 31-year-old, who was on the podium in Tokyo less than two years after taking up the sport, has not ruled out a push for LA 2028. 

Former javelin thrower Munro displayed a profound amount of respect for Kjaer, who advanced to a fight for bronze. 

She added: “Lisa apologised, which she should never do. You should never apologise.  

“We’ve got that rapport over the years, and we’ve got to know each other over the years and she’s such a lovely person.  

“Sometimes I don’t like to say that going into a competitive fight, but there is an element of respect and when I first started I went out giving her too much respect, but when it comes to the point of where I beat her, she’s human and she can lose.  

“It might be our final dance, I don’t know, she’s a legend of the sport and I’m gutted but it is what it is.” 

Aldi are proud Official Partners of Team GB & ParalympicsGB, supporting all athletes through to Paris 2024.