Flora Duffy made Olympic history on Tuesday when she won the first-ever gold medal for her tiny island of Bermuda by triumphing in the women’s triathlon event in the Tokyo Olympics.

Bermuda’s only previous Olympic medallist was boxer Clarence Hill in the 1976 Montreal games.

The 33-year-old timed 1hr 55min 36sec to come home ahead of Britain’s Georgia Taylor-Brown with American Katie Zaferes taking the bronze.

Duffy’s success makes Bermuda the smallest nation in terms of the population — around 70,000 — to ever win a gold medal at the Summer Olympic Games.

The race was delayed by 15 minutes due to the slippery conditions following heavy overnight rain but the condition could not stop Duffy from creating history as she took control of the race in the final running section.

She had opened up a lead of almost a minute after the first of four laps and was never under threat from anyone behind her from then on.

Taylor-Brown can blame fate for her loss as she suffered a flat rear tire in the cycling section of the race.

A triathlon
is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running
over various distances. Triathletes compete for the fastest overall completion
time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the
disciplines included.