Deccan Chronicle

‘Tiny’ Bermuda wins big medal

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Hamilton, July The delivery of Bermuda’s first ever Olympic gold medal on Tuesday by triathlete Flora Duffy is a victory shared by the whole island, her parents said.

“Everybody’s going to take a piece of this pride,” said Maria Duffy, Flora’s mother.

Flora Duffy won the first gold of the day on Tuesday at the Tokyo Olympics for the women’s event, making Bermuda the smallest territory or nation in terms of population ever to win a gold medal at a Summer Games.

The 33-year-old crossed the line in 1hr 55min 36sec, after traversing a distance of more than 30 miles (50 kilometers), around 10 miles longer than her home island, to beat out Britain’s Georgia TaylorBrow­n, with US athlete Katie Zaferes taking bronze.

Duffy’s parents watched her swim, cycle and run a grueling course from a pub on the tiny island, with a population of around 70,000, and they were “blown away” by the crowd that had gathered, they said.

“All these people coming to watch your daughter. You’re just hoping and praying: ‘Oh please, let’s hope it all pans out and doesn’t go pear-shaped.’ And it didn’t go pearshaped, which was just unbelievab­le,” Maria Duffy said.

The couple said messages had flooded in, and neighbors were “overcome and overwhelme­d”.

“It’s been 45 years since something like this has happened. It might be another 45 before it ever happens again,” Maria said.

Bermuda’s only previous Olympic medalist was boxer Clarence Hill, who won a bronze in 1976. Her father Charlie said the Tokyo Games would be his daughter’s final Olympic appearance.

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