Triathlete Flora Duffy yesterday reveled in a “cool moment” after delivering the first Olympic gold medal in history for the tiny island of Bermuda in Tokyo.
The 33-year-old crossed the line in the women’s race in 1 hour, 55 minutes, 36 seconds, more than a minute ahead of Britain’s Georgia Taylor-Brown, with US athlete Katie Zaferes taking bronze.
Duffy’s success makes Bermuda the smallest nation or territory in terms of population — about 70,000 — to ever win a gold medal at a Summer Games.
Photo: AFP
“I have achieved my dream of winning a gold medal, but also winning Bermuda’s first gold medal,” she said.
“It’s bigger than me and that’s a really cool moment. That was the longest kilometer of my life [the final one of the run],” she said. “I think I can get used to being called Olympic champion for the rest of my life,”
Bermuda’s only previous Olympic medalist was boxer Clarence Hill, who won a bronze in 1976.
For Duffy it was a welcome reward after persistent injuries and being diagnosed with anemia in 2013.
She quit the sport after failing to finish the event at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and started working in a shop before studying for a degree and returning to the sport.
In a race delayed by 15 minutes because of slippery conditions following heavy overnight rain in the Japanese capital, Duffy took control in the final running section.
She had opened up a lead of almost 1 minute after the first of four laps and was never under threat from then on.
The broad grin she sported entering the finishing straight gave way to tears at the realization of what she had achieved as she crossed the line. “I tried to just keep my composure and not allow my mind to drift to the fact that this was really happening until about the last kilometer of the run,” Duffy said.
“I saw my husband, he’s my coach, on the side of the road, and just gave him a little smile,” she said. “From there I just sort of allowed all the emotions to come, but I truly don’t think it’ll hit me until a couple of days from now.”
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