Armstrong completed the grueling 29.7-kilometer (18.4-mile) course in 44:26.42.
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London 2012 double bronze medalist Zabelinskaya took silver and Dutch road race victor Anna van der Breggen came third.
Then on Wednesday morning, Armstrong faced another hurdle: the weather.
But Armstrong, the last rider to start, relegated her to the silver medal in the wet conditions at coastal Pontal. With that said, KBSX got an outside expert to assess her accomplishment.
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Zabelinskaya, who accepted an 18-month suspension for a failed drugs test for octopamine in February, would have been an unpopular victor. And she now owns all but two of the road-cycling golds ever awarded to the U.S.
She described the flood of emotions as the news was confirmed.
“I think that for so long we’ve been told that we should be finished at a certain age”.
“Yes, I can eat my cake too!” Controversy ensued. Carmen Small, the 2016 national time trial champion, believed that she deserved the right to compete in Rio.
She becomes the oldest female Olympic cycling gold medalist. Now it’s up to you on what color you want to bring home, ‘ ” she said. “She uses that as more motivation”.
“I knew it was going to be a close race”. Abbott ended fourth after trying to hold the lead for about six miles.
Over the past day, Abbott had left her teammate encouraging notes.
No wonder she cried with joy at the finish where she cuddled her son Lucas, who she later admitted had preferred watching the fencing because he thought it looked like Star Wars.
Team GB’s Emma Pooley, a controversial inclusion in the squad after deciding earlier this year to come out of her retirement from cycling to target the time trial at Rio, was off the pace from the beginning and finished 14th of the 25 starters, 2 minutes and 5 seconds behind the victor.
Savola said the first-place ranking was Armstrong’s answer to critics and those who said she did not belong on the U.S. team. She was a three-time gold medalist victor for the individual time trial in 2008, 2012 and most of all in this year 2016. “I had my ticket to go back to Russian Federation”.
So the veteran set out on a mission to prove to herself and everyone else that she could still ride with the best in the world.
Armstrong just turn 43 today and getting the gold medals in Rio yesterday must have been, a predestined fate because it quite a nice way to celebrate a birthday, it an ultimate birthday gift to one’s self. When the time trials started a few hours later, it didn’t matter.
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With her nose dripping blood, Armstrong says it was that comment that really pushed her.
