Marathon swimmer who pipped Queenslander for gold says she did it all for her dead dog
Olympic gold medal-winning marathon swimmer Sharon van Rouwendaal says she was powered to glory by the memory of her dead dog.
Van Rouwendaal, who won 5.5 seconds ahead of Australiaās silver medallist Moesha Johnson, lost her beloved pet in complications due to lung surgery three months ago.
After her triumph, the Dutchwoman revealed her āworld stoppedā at the dogās death, and she almost walked away from the sport before a pep-talk from her father.
āIn May, my little dog died. He needed an operation on his lungs so I gave it to him in hope that we could live after the Olympics together in my house and with my garden,ā she said.
āHe had complications after the surgery and he died. Then my world stopped and I didnāt care about swimming for like three weeks.
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āHe was my little baby. But my dad said that youāve been away from him for like seven years because of competitions. Do one more race and give it everything and swim for him.
āSo I had a tattoo three days after the cremation and I said: āLetās try it and I will swim for him with my whole heartā ā and I did it ā I won for him.ā
The gold medal was the Dutchwomanās second, backing up her success at the Rio de Janeiro Games.
Competitors spent more than two hours in the Seine River, which has faced water quality issues during the fortnight of the Games, despite a hugely expensive rehabilitation project to clean the waterway.
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