Also on Wednesday, U.S. swimmer Katie Ledecky earned her third gold medal, winning the 4x200m freestyle relay with teammates Allison Schmitt, Leah Smith, and Maya DiRado.
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With this feat, Kristin automatically becomes the oldest female cycling champion, and also the first cyclist to win three Olympics titles in the same category.
Armstrong said ” this is the hardest journey I’ve ever had” but she put together another golden effort in an Olympic time trial.
The American fell down and curled into what looked to be the recovery position as a paramedic immediately rushed to her aid.
However, Armstrong, who had been a controversial selection for the Olympic Games, stormed home to take her third gold medal, beating Zabelinskaya by five seconds and equalling Leontien van Moorsel’s record of three road gold medals.
Anna van der Breggen of the Netherlands added a bronze medal to the road race gold she won Sunday.
Armstrong led by almost 5 seconds after 10 kilometers but dropped 3 seconds back of the lead by the second time check. It doesn’t matter whether I go from America to South America, Asia or Europe. When they told her that she did, she collapsed to the ground.
With her nose dripping blood, Armstrong says it was that comment that really pushed her. With that said, KBSX got an outside expert to assess her accomplishment.
“Mama”, Lucas asked, “why are you crying?”
Armstrong said she spends her days working with nonprofit groups, bridging a gap between physicians and disease prevention programs.
“(My coach) kept on telling me, ‘This is it,”‘ she said.
After the hard race, she was embraced by Ms. Zabelinskaya, her Russian rival.
“As you get older and as you try to come back for a hat trick, a three-peat – whatever you want to call it – there’s a lot of risk involved”, Armstrong said to NBC’s Ryan Seacrest.
Armstrong returned from a second retirement in 2015 to give it one last go for Rio, having also quit the sport in 2009, to start a family.
“I thought about Sunday”, said Armstrong, who played a supporting roll for Abbott on Sunday and was the first to console her after she finished fourth, told reporters. Mayor Dave Bieter issued a statement shortly after Armstrong claimed her third gold. Goes to show you that cheaters never win!
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Unlike other years when the proud Idahoan has competed in the Olympic Games, this time she’s actually going to stick around Rio to enjoy the trip.
