Advertisement

Flora Duffy wins women's triathlon, making Bermuda smallest country to ever win Summer Olympic gold

Flora Duffy triumphed at the triathlon in Tokyo, and that means Bermuda is officially the smallest country to ever celebrate a Summer Olympic gold medal.

The 33-year-old triathlete blew away the 56-woman field with a time of 1:55:36 to earn gold in her fourth Olympic appearance. Great Britain's Georgia Taylor-Brown finished 1:14 behind her for silver, while Team USA's Katie Zaferes finished third for bronze.

Duffy spent nearly the entire race around the front of the pack, sitting in sixth after the swim and only eight seconds behind then-leader Jessica Learmonth. She made up even more ground on the bike, finishing her ride in a virtual tie with Zaferes and Georgia's Laura Lindemann, then proceeded to smoke the field once she was on the ground.

The win completes an impressive rise for Duffy, who entered the race without a coach. She was lapped in 2008, finished 45th in 2012 and came in nearly a minute and a half short of a medal in 2016. She was also gold medalist of the World Triathlon Series in 2016 and 2017 and took silver behind Taylor-Brown in 2020.

Bermuda makes history with Flora Duffy's gold

Duffy's gold is Bermuda's first in 27 Olympic appearances between the Summer and Winter Games, and only the second medal overall. Boxer Clarence Hill was previously's the country's only Olympic medalist with a bronze in the 1976 heavyweight division.

That accomplishment will earn you a nice message from your country's premier.

With a population of 62,278, Bermuda is now the least populous country to ever taste Olympic gold at the Summer Games. The title of smallest country to win any Olympic gold still belongs to Liechtenstein (pop. 38,128), which saw Hanni Wenzel win two skiing golds at the 1980 Olympics.

To give you a sense of how small that is, consider that Waukesha, Wisconsin has a population of 72,299. The entire country is smaller than Memphis by a factor of 10.

Duffy was born in Bermuda in 1987 to British parents and holds dual Bermudan/British citizenship.

Click image to see slideshow
Click image to see slideshow

More from Yahoo Sports: