Race Previews

Whatever it Takes...

Thursday, 11 August 2016 23:10

By Aimee Berg (usatriathlon.org)

Gwen Jorgensen knew it. She just didn't want to believe it.  

So she shouted to a rider with a better view.

“Do I have a flat?”

“Yes.”

“Are you sure? You need to be sure!” she urged.

“Yes! You have a flat.”

So, roughly 40 minutes into her Olympic debut, she stopped, ejected her rear wheel, and swapped it for another while a half-dozen people passed her. She would later discover that a tiny piece of glass had split her tire....

Yet she pedaled on, aware that her blazing running speed wouldn’t be enough to carry her to the Olympic podium — a place where just one American had stood in the 12 years since triathlon was added to the Games.

Instead, Jorgensen finished 38th.

“Oh, I just cried,” said her older sister, Elizabeth, who watched on the sidelines in London. “That’s my role in the family; I’m the crier.”

Not Gwen. Immediately, she thought, What can I do to get gold in Rio?  READ MORE