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Beth Potter has come a long way from the athlete who morosely sipped cocktails from a coconut on the Copacabana eight years ago.
Her career was at an inflection point after a distant 38th-place finish in the 10,000m at the Rio Olympics but a chance meeting in McDonald’s and a switch of sports was rewarded at Paris 2024 with women’s triathlon bronze.
Potter won the test event here last year and the world title but this season has failed to make the top step of the podium at the global level, claiming she was arriving in Paris flying under the radar.
Her tactics were clear: stay in contention through the swim and stay out of trouble on the bike, where greasy cobbled sections were treacherous after heavy overnight rain.
Then she could strike on the run, where, on her day, she’s the strongest athlete in the field.
But she didn’t count on France’s Cassandre Beaugrand who, roared on by a sea of French tricolours along this made-for-Instagram course, proved just too strong.
When she kicked for home, Potter and the silver medallist, Switzerland’s Julie Derron, simply had no response as she streaked into the distance.
“They were both too good for me but I’m super happy to come away with bronze,” said Potter, who is coached by Olympic champion brothers Alistair and Jonny Brownlee, moving to their Leeds training group when she quit track and field.
“It’s just relief, to be honest. This day has been in the calendar for a long time, so to come away with a medal – I’m just over the moon.
“Gold was on my mind but I got a medal, so there are no complaints. It was a wall of noise out there, there was not one part of that course that was quiet.
“I’ve come a long way in eight years and I really feel like I did this for me and for those who believed in what I was doing switching sports.
“The Brownlees have been a massive part of my journey. They’re the reason I moved to the triathlon. I train with Alistair day in, day out, and he’s such a big part of my story.
“I moved in with Jonny when I first moved to Leeds too. They’re always the first to message me before and after races and it means so much to know that I have the support of them.”
The water quality in the Seine has been the talking point of recent days, despite the high-profile efforts of French authorities to clean it up at a reported cost of £1bn.
The men’s race was already delayed 24 hours and Potter and teammates Georgia Taylor-Brown, who finished sixth, and Kate Waugh went to bed last night not knowing whether they’d race in the morning.
Organisers got their wish, the race a two-hour television showcase for Paris’s postcard landmarks, a grand stage for a French leading lady, who crossed the line on the Pont Alexander III to cheers that rumbled across the city.
But the question remains, at what cost?
The staging of the Games has forced politicians to finally act on the embarrassing water quality of the Seine, where swimming has been banned since 1923 due to pollution levels. But many of these athletes are due to race again in next week’s team event – if they can stay healthy.
Taylor-Brown took a cocktail of prebiotics and probiotics and lined her stomach with Peptobismol; she’d barely caught her breath before she was gurgling mouthwash.
France and Great Britain look the ones to beat in the team event, with Taylor-Brown and Yee likely to be the only returning members of the gold medal-winning quartet from Tokyo.
“Let’s see what the coaches decide but hopefully I’m picked, and we can go again,” added Potter, who is one of over 1,000 elite athletes on UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded World Class Programme, allowing them to train full-time, have access to the world’s best coaches and benefit from pioneering medical support – which has been vital on their pathway to the Paris 2024 Games.
“I’m going to give myself a couple of days to enjoy this and then it’s about resetting and going again for the relay. We feel like we’ve got a really strong team, two in the top six of the women’s race proves that. It’s nice to have a medal but obviously nicer to have two.”
With more than £30m a week raised for Good Causes, including vital funding into elite and grassroots sport, National Lottery players support our Olympic and Paralympic athletes to live their dreams and make the nation proud, as well as providing more opportunities for people to take part in sport. To find out more visit: www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk
