Brianne Theisen-Eaton overcomes doubt to win heptathlon medal
Canadian rallied after tough opening day
By Jamie Strashin, CBC Sports
If you spot Brianne Theisen-Eaton cheering on her husband, Ashton Eaton, during the final day of his decathlon competition, she will likely still be smiling, still glowing from her bronze-medal performance in the heptathlon earlier this week in Rio.
In another time, in another place, Theisen-Eaton may have crumbled. She may have collapsed under the pressure of another disappointing performance.
In the gruelling test of athleticism that is the heptathlon, the hurdles were supposed to be her strongest event. But she clocked only the sixth-best time, part of a disappointing day 1.
She left the stadium that night in sixth place, far from the podium finish so many had predicted.
Last year, at the world championships, Theisen-Eaton also had a disappointing day 1 that cued panic.
In Rio, that didn't happen.
"It didn't and that was a really weird thing because the same thing happened to me [at the worlds] in Beijing," Theisen-Eaton told me over the phone from Rio. "I didn't have a very good first day [in Beijing] and I was in a panic emotionally. I was crying for two hours when I got back to the hotel. I was mentally and physically exhausted."
Theisen-Eaton was unsure of exactly what went wrong, but she resigned to fix it on day 2.
"I was thinking tomorrow is another day. I am going to get another crack at this and I'm going to make the most of it. I wanted a medal. At that point it didn't matter what colour, I just I really wanted a medal."
On day 2 in Rio, she was able to climb past a number of athletes to capture an improbable bronze.
Theisen-Eaton was able to step up on the most difficult and pressure-packed athletic stage: the Olympic Games. It's a brief moment in time, every four years, where an athlete must perform at her highest level.
"You know the Olympics is tough. If it wasn't, more people would be here," she says. "Competing is hard but competing for a medal is even harder and that's why an Olympic medal means so much.