Flora Duffy wins Bermuda’s first Olympic gold medal: “It’s bigger than me and that’s a really cool moment.”

Flora Duffy of Bermuda won the women’s triathlon on Tuesday, her country’s first ever gold medal at an Olympics.

The 33-year-old Duffy, in her fourth Olympic appearance, crossed the finish line in 1 hour, 55:36 minutes. Georgia Taylor-Brown of Great Britain took silver and Katie Zaferes of the United States the bronze.

Duffy is only the second Olympic medalist for Bermuda. Heavyweight boxer Clarence Hill won bronze in 1976.

“I am so thrilled I could execute, and yeah, I achieved my dream of winning a gold medal, but also winning Bermuda’s first gold medal,” she said.

“It’s bigger than me and that’s a really cool moment.”

Duffy had finished eighth in the event at Rio 2016 but for the two years after that she dominated the sport, winning two world titles and the Commonwealth Games. She missed over a year with a foot injury before returning to win the Tokyo Test Event in August 2019.

Duffy is one of only two athletes in the Tokyo delegation for Bermuda, a country with a population of 64,000. Rower Dara Alizadeh was the country’s flagbearer at the Opening Ceremony.

The Bermuda Premier David Burt took to Twitter to congratulate Duffy, saying “You’ve worked so hard and you’ve made an entire island proud!”

Duffy’s accomplishment comes a day after weightlifter Hidilyn Diaz of the Philippines became her country’s first Olympic gold medalist.

The start of Tuesday’s triathlon was delayed by 15 minutes due to high winds from the tropical storm that has forced some changes to the event schedule for archery, rowing and surfing.