Former Vandal Kristin Armstrong won her third straight Olympic Gold Medal in the women’s individual time trial Aug. 10 in Rio de Janeiro. A day later, she turned 43.
“I don’t have words to describe it,” Armstrong said. “When you’ve already been two times at the pinnacle of the sport, why risk coming back for the gold medal? The best answer I can give is that I can. Today the stars aligned.”
Armstrong was the 25th rider to complete the course. Her first split was the fastest, but her second split was nearly three seconds behind. The final lap brought Armstrong her third gold medal. She won the race by 5.55 seconds with a time of 44:26.42.
She is the second American woman in history to win three gold medals in the same event. Bonnie Blair, the only other woman, won three consecutive gold medals in the 500-meter speed skating from 1988-1994.
Armstrong was the oldest biker at the Olympics.
As a child, Armstrong grew up in Tennessee, California, North Carolina and Japan. She graduated high school in 1991 and enrolled at UI. While working on a sports physiology degree, Amstrong ran track for a season as a walk-on. She graduated in 1995.
Now, she lives in Boise with her husband and son.
Her experience in swimming and running long distance led her to become a triathlete. Armstrong was diagnosed with osteoarthritis, a disease causing the degeneration of joint cartilage and underlying bone that leads to pain and stiffness, at 27 years old. She began focusing exclusively on cycling.
Her first trip to the Summer Olympics, the 2004 Athens games, left her with an eigth place finish as the top U.S. finisher.
Four years later in China, she won her first gold medal in the women’s road time trial on August 13. She finished in under 35 minutes, which was 25 seconds ahead of the silver and bronze medalists.
In 2010, Armstrong took a temporary retirement from cycling to start a family.
“I love cycling and I love competing. I stopped racing after the 2009 World Championships not because I was burned out, but because my husband and I wanted to start a family,” she said in a written statement. “I told myself from the beginning if everything went smoothly with the birth of our son, Lucas William, I would consider racing again.”
She made her return at the 2012 London Olympics and notched another gold medal and became the oldest rider to win an Olympic time trial. Armstrong again stated she would be retiring, this time for good. But she came back.
“I want a third gold medal,” Armstrong said in a teleconference on the eve of the event. “I left the sport on top, twice now. Something keeps driving me back.”
Armstrong returned home to Boise Monday.