Olympic medallist Brianne Theisen-Eaton salutes Humboldt, Sask.
Heptathlete won bronze at Rio Games on Saturday
Olympic medallist Brianne Theisen-Eaton is paying tribute to her hometown — Humboldt, Sask.
At the Rio Games on Saturday, the 27-year-old Saskatchewan heptathlete took third and won a bronze medal.
National acclaim followed but, on Tuesday, she was telling CBC interviewer Ron MacLean she will never forget her roots in the town of 5,700, which is 113 kilometres east of Saskatoon.
"Humboldt has done so much for me," she said.
You know, it's really cool to be from such a small place.- Olympic medallist Brianne Theisen-Eaton
"I mean, there are signs all over the place and they've done fundraisers to help me reach my goals. I get messages all the time. The schools sign flags and send them here. You know, it's really cool to be from such a small place."
She currently lives in Oregon with her husband Ashton Eaton, an Olympic champion for Team USA, whom she notes spent his early years in La Pine, Ore., which has a population of about 1,700.
When she gets to go home in Saskatchewan, she's treated as the person everyone remembers growing up, rather than an Olympian, she said.
"Sometimes it's just refreshing and nice to go home and just be like a normal person," she said. "To just, like, go home and walk around town and be like, 'Hey, Brianne!' You know, it's cool."
