1D54D74C4B788B01A39CE8E6899019C7 Bermudians are ‘bursting with pride’ as triathlete Flora Duffy brings home the country's first Olympic gold -->
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Bermudians are ‘bursting with pride’ as triathlete Flora Duffy brings home the country's first Olympic gold

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‘What a fantastic ‘golden’ performance from start to finish’

Originally published on Global Voices

Bermuda's Flora Duffy leads a pack of elite triathletes at the 2012 Edmonton ITU Triathlon World Cup. Photo by Sangudo on Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

The Caribbean island of Bermuda officially has its first-ever gold medal at the Olympic Games, thanks to the efforts of Flora Duffy. The 33-year-old triathlete won the women's event on July 26 in Tokyo, Japan, after a delayed start caused by unfavourable weather conditions affecting the course in Tokyo Bay. Her victory also gives Bermuda the distinction of being the least populous country ever to win Olympic gold:

Duffy completed the course in a time of 1:55:36. The two other medallists were Britain's Georgia Taylor-Brown, who finished a minute and 14 seconds behind Duffy to cop the silver medal, and American Katie Zaferes, who finished in third place with a time of 1:57:03:

In the midst of stormy conditions, Duffy remained steady throughout. She emerged from the swim leg among the first batch of competitors, and was among the first three at the end of the first lap of the bike stage. By the second lap, she was leading the pack, and kept up a good pace throughout this stage of the race.

It was on the opening lap of the run, however, that Duffy really made a serious play for the win. She continued to push ahead on subsequent laps, continuously increasing the time gap between herself and her nearest competitors, and looking sure and strong as she crossed the finish line to give the country of her birth its first taste of Olympic gold medal glory:

On the other side of the world, her compatriots celebrated the significance of her win:

In households across the island, air horns were being sounded in jubilation:

Understandably, many Bermudians got emotional over the victory:

Hill, Bermuda's first Olympic medallist who took home a bronze medal in Boxing at the 1976 Montreal Games, said that Duffy's triumph reignited his long-held faith in the potential of Bermudian athletes.

Meanwhile, a few social media users were inspired enough to compose songs (or at least play them):

Twitter users expressed just how much of a unifying force—and source of pride—Duffy's performance was for the country:

Some social media users dubbed Duffy the greatest of all time, while for others, the sight of their country's flag flying highest at the Games, accompanied by the playing of their national anthem, was incredibly moving:

Duffy demonstrated that she was both physically and mentally ready for this race, and—unlike her competitor Georgia Taylor-Brown, who lost precious time on the bike leg due to a flat tyre—did not have to contend with any mishaps. Many of her fellow citizens, however, felt in some measure that their support and good wishes must also have counted for something:

One Twitter user summed up her achievement simply and eloquently:

Written by Janine Mendes-Franco



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