POTTER'S JOY AT BRONZE IN TRIATHLON

EX-TRACK STAR CAME FOR GOLD BUT IS STILL SMILING

- Matt Majendie

BETH POTTER said she had come for the gold, but was still elated to finish with a bronze medal around her neck.

Her achievement capped a remarkable eight years that began with her watching the Olympic triathlon on Copacabana Beach while drinking out of a coconut.

In Rio, the then physics teacher had used her summer holidays to run for Team GB in the 10,000m on the track. Stricken by sickness, she struggled to a lowly 34th and found herself disillusioned with her first sporting passion.

Inside McDonald’s at the Olympic village, she got talking to the GB triathlon coaches about a possible switch. She made an official decision when, a month later, she watched Alistair Brownlee carry his dehydrated brother Jonny over the line at the World Series final in Mexico.

“When Jonny collapsed and Alistair carried him across the line, I thought, ‘I want to do that sport’,” she said.

A year later, she quit teaching, and the former junior swimmer fully immersed herself into her new sport. She missed out on Tokyo selection, which bugged her at the time, but she now admits it would have been too soon.