Flora Duffy earns Bermuda’s First tokyo olympics 2021 Gold Medal with Triathlon Success. Georgia Taylor-Brown sustained a puncture during the women’s triathlon but battled back to finish second. At the same time, Katie Zaferes of the United States took bronze, but no one could match Flora Duffy’s dominance.
Flora Duffy, a multiple world champion, won Bermuda’s first-ever gold medal. At the same time, Georgia Taylor-Brown of the United Kingdom took silver despite a punctured tire in a rain-soaked women’s triathlon in Tokyo.
As they emerged from the swim, Taylor-Brown and her friend and training partner Jess Learmonth was in the lead group, and they stayed there until Taylor-mishap Brown’s late in the ride. It left her with a lot of ground to make up, but she handled it effectively and began picking off competitors, including Learmonth, to chase down a well-deserved medal.
Tokyo Olympics 2021: Katie Zaferes, the US star who won the World Triathlon Championships in 2019 and would have been the clear favorite 12 months ago when the Games were first set, was a year too late. Before her father died in April, she had a terrible 2020, plagued with collisions and injury difficulties. She started the final leg on Duffy’s tail and faded, but she fought back to win a rugged bronze.
Taylor-Brown stated of the puncture, “I did have a panic.” “I made the decision not to stop and change my wheel, opting instead to see what occurs next. For the opening lap of the race, I went all out. After that, I had to suffer, but it was worth it. I was biding my time, five seconds behind (Zaferes) for a long time. I didn’t want to push it too fast because I was in so much pain, but I was desperate to advance and obtain the job.
After Alex Yee’s second-place finish in the men’s race, her spirited performance earned her a second triathlon silver.
Learmonth remarked of Taylor-Brown, “I’m incredibly proud of her.” “Most folks have no idea or don’t care about what she’s been through. You wouldn’t believe her abilities. When we crossed the finish line, I sobbed. I wish everyone knew how incredible she is.”
Taylor-Brown arrived at the finish line about a minute after Duffy, finding the Bermudan in tears of delight on the floor. Duffy carried the weight of a nation around a drenched Tokyo Bay – she is somewhat of an A-list celebrity on the Atlantic island, although living in South Africa and training in Colorado – but the burden never showed as she dominated the race.
Bermuda, which has a population of 64,000 people and is roughly the size of Macclesfield, becomes the smallest country to win a summer Olympic gold medal.
Duffy broke into a big smile as she realized her victory was complete in the final 100m, then dropped to the ground holding the finish tape and sobbed.
Tokyo Olympics 2021: After her first Olympic experience in Beijing in 2008, when she was suffering from an eating disorder that produced exhaustion and depression, this glory seemed unlikely. She didn’t finish the race and quit the sport shortly after, returning to Bermuda to work in a shop, and her triathlon career seemed to be over.
But she had a nagging feeling that she would return to a sport that was in her blood one day. She had grown up on the beach and developed a natural talent for all three triathlon disciplines at a young age, winning competitions as early as age eight and swiftly establishing a name for herself on an island where word travels quickly.
She also attended an English boarding school and represented the United Kingdom as Bermuda in a British foreign colony, but she was pleased to fly her flag.
Duffy took stock after Beijing. She enrolled at the University of Colorado, where her friends were also students, and met coach Neal Henderson. He recognized that she needed to be reintroduced to activity and a healthy lifestyle, and he pushed her to join the cycling team. They want to swim followed, followed by the desire to run. Her triathlon career was given a new lease on life.
Duffy made rapid progress, winning a succession of international championships before capturing gold at the Commonwealth Games in 2018. Running had always been her forte, so when she ditched her bike and took command of this Olympic race on two legs, 64,000 people on an island on the other side of the world knew this was her moment.
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