American cyclist Chloe Dygert put years of traumatic injuries behind her to claim her third Olympic medal at the Paris Games today after surviving a rainy crash.
The 27-year-old from Colorado Springs won bronze in the women’s individual time trial on a rain-slicked course as cycling competition got underway in Paris.
Chloe, whose partner Alex is the son of cycling legend Eddie Merckx, completed the course in 41:10.70, behind gold medallist Grace Brown of Australia, who clocked 39:38.24. Britain’s Anna Henderson took silver in 41:09.38.
The medal is Chloe’s third in as many Olympic Games, having won silver at the 2016 Rio Games and bronze in Tokyo, both in team pursuit.
Dygert has admitted there were “times” in recent years when he thought about quitting following a devastating leg injury in 2020.
American cyclist Chloe Dygert took bronze in Saturday’s time trial – her third Olympic medal.
Dygert completed the course in 41:10.70, behind gold medalist Grace Brown of Australia (C)
She said: ‘What I had to go through physically with the injury itself, then what I had to go through mentally, all the personal stuff I won’t go into, my life sometimes didn’t matter to me.
“I didn’t care if she was alive. I didn’t care about things. People don’t see and they don’t understand, and I can say the same thing: I see people with injuries and things that happen, and I can’t understand what they’re going through.”
On Saturday, while celebrating her bronze, she revealed that she welcomed the rain that brought chaos to the Paris Olympics.
She said: ‘I like this weather, I like this temperature, so I can’t complain too much about anything.
‘The crowd was so loud that I had a hard time hearing the radio. I heard the first time control. At that point, I was five seconds short. For the first three minutes, I knew my legs weren’t very good, so I was a little worried.
‘I knew there was a bit more downhill on the way back and I thought I could take advantage of that, but then I had a small crash and I don’t know how much it really affected me.
She blamed herself for the accident, adding: “It was me. I just didn’t prepare properly, I just slid out, it was my fault. I should have taken it a bit better.”
‘It was tough. Fortunately, I had a bit of adrenaline in my body, but I noticed it right away. I hit my leg against my body, so spasms and other things started to appear in my leg.
Dygert admitted he had thought about quitting after a devastating leg injury in 2020.
“I noticed that there were times when I lost a bit of power. Again, that’s no excuse for finishing third.”
On the ups and downs of the past four years, she said: “I’m so happy to be here. I’m so grateful to be here. It’s been a long road to get back to the Olympics, so I’m so grateful. This has been a real blessing and I’m thankful for all the support and everyone who’s helped me get here.”
‘I’m not going to be a sore loser, but everyone shows up to win and everyone here who’s not in the top echelon will probably say the same thing.
“We want to win. We don’t want to lose, but we’re going to be grateful and support all the riders. That’s how it is, one rider will be better than the other that day, that’s how it is. I just have to get better.”