When she crossed the finish line Saturday, Jorgensen burst into tears.
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Jorgensen, 30, finished ahead of defending Olympic champion Nicola Spirig of Switzerland, who took silver.
She covered the 10km run in 35:48, the ninth fastest of all, a brilliant way to finish off her race.
Jorgensen came late to triathlon, a swimmer and runner at Wisconsin who was recruited to the sport by USA Triathlon.
“I’ve had a four-year plan and I’m definitely a planner”, Jorgensen said. So, I was like, I don’t want to do it, you know?
The two took turns in the lead before Jorgensen started to accelerate on the final lap, and Spirig couldn’t keep up.
Jorgensen had controlled all that she could control. “After London, I said I wanted to go to Rio and I wanted to win gold”, Jorgensen said. “She said, ‘Let’s do something fun”.
“I knew she is an extremely strong runner, so I had to try everything and I think I did all I could and I’m very happy”.
“How the race played out last year isn’t necessarily how it’s going to play out this year”, said Jorgensen, a St. Paul resident. “She said, ‘I already have a (gold) medal, ‘ which is fair enough” – Jorgensen ended the discussion by taking off.
Jorgensen finished a disappointing 38th in the 2012 London summer games after a flat tire in the biking part of the event. She won the gold medal in her usual fashion: by dusting the field with her devastating run. Spirig-Hug and Jorgensen rolled into the second transition together.
It’s widely believed that her rivals will need around a minute advantage going into the run to stand a chance of holding her off. Jonathan adds a silver medal to his medal collection after winning the bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics. She thought about husband Pat Lemieux, a former pro cyclist who is now Jorgensen’s manager and much more, and of Jamie Turner, her coach since 2013 when she moved to train with a group in Australia.
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Asked if she had considered pulling out of her third Olympics, Hewitt’s voice faltered. Running into a headwind, with neither wanting to lead, they were seen chatting, and both said it was a mental game. “I’m just really thankful that I’ve had those people to believe in me throughout the way and encourage me along the way, because without them I wouldn’t be doing triathlon”.
