Kristin and her son, Lucas; with her husband, Joe Savola

The world was surprised by the ‘Supermom’ Kristin Armstrong comeback at the Rio Olympic Games

Olympic medalist Kristin Armstrong

After becoming a mother, the cycling star decided to retire and proved what supermom means. Kristin Armstrong, who holds a gold medal hat-trick in the Olympics, is an inspiration for everyone.

Age is just a number to US cyclist Kristin, who powered to gold in the women’s cycling time trial the day before she turns 43. By seven years, Kristin mastered Rio’s wet and windy conditions to secure a remarkable third successive Olympic title, the oldest woman in the field. Kristin’s victory quickly became a family affair as she capped off a perfect day, embracing her five-year-old son Lucas at the finish line.

“He did start figuring out what mommy does. He’d seen pictures of the (Rio) medal and knew about the (Beijing and London) medals, and he’s done running events and gotten them himself. So, I knew he got it.”

“But you think about it, and then it’s, ‘What if I don’t bring home the medal?’ He’d say, ‘Hey mommy, did you win a medal?’ And I’d have to explain to him why I didn’t. Either way, it would’ve been a good experience, but he saw me go on the bike every day. It was a big deal to win.”

Prior to the start of cycling, she had swum in the Junior Olympics. She was a distance runner in college and then became a triathlete. However, after this she had an injury due to which her triathlon career came to an end and she started focusing only on cycling. She won her first gold match in Beijing in 2008. After this, she announced her retirement. In 2010, she became the son’s mother.

“I don’t have words to describe it,” said Kristin, who shed tears of joy at the top of the podium. “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. I knew it was going to be a close race. My coach said to me, ‘OK, you decide what color medal you want to have.’ Armstrong’s gold was Team USA’s 10th of the Games at the Rio Olympics.

The Power of Mother’s Love ft. Kristin Armstrong

“I made a promise to myself after London; I wanted normalcy. I wanted to be back in Boise and have a normal life because I missed it. I thought I missed it. Now I made a promise that, ‘If things go well in Rio, I am going to continue to live a little bit of a chaotic life for 12 to 18 months, and take every opportunity that comes my way.’ Last time around, I said, ‘I can’t be bothered. I’m so tired, I want a normal life.”

“This time around. I’m booking for speaking engagements, and I’m booked through next couple months; every month I have something. After London was really stressful because I had mom guilt: you have a two-year-old and you want to be normal. But part of the journey and being successful—and this is the fun part—is that you get to share your story and meet with all kinds of interesting people and companies. I am going to ride this for a while and have fun with it and embrace it.”

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