My favorite Olympic moment so far is the Woman’s individual road race. It’s 137 km, and the projected, expected, and most hyped competitor was Annemiek van Vleuten of the Dutch team. In fact, when van Vleuten crossed the finish line she raised her arms in victory, thinking she had won, and her teammates joined her in celebration.
Only to be informed that Austrian cyclist Anna Kiesenhofer crossed the finish line 1 minute 15 seconds earlier. She was so far ahead that the other racers didn’t see her finish and, and since she burst out at the start of the race and never looked back, they lost sight and soon completely forgot about her.
Anna Kiesenhofer is a PhD mathematician who had no coach or contract, managed her own training, and didn’t have a team, which all the major competitors do have. More on this story here
https://apnews.com/article/2020-tok...olympic-team-4b80096526a4273048ce3ba28a3b5007