What do you do after you’ve successfully ended an eight-year journey to claim an Olympic medal?
If you’re Beth Potter, you go and see Taylor Swift in concert. Then do it all again.
The 32-year-old triathlete grabbed her second bronze of the Games in the mixed relay under bright blue Paris skies and with the Eiffel Tower looming.
She had already burst herself to the point of passing out to get third place in the individual event last Wednesday.
Now, as she turned on to the Pont Alexandre III – the picturesque location of the finish line – trailing rivals from Germany and the United States, the Glaswegian had to do it all again.
Potter braced herself and surged, straining every sinew in a bold bid to come up with a more valuable medal than the bronze she was guaranteed.
There was no shortage of heart and courage. A dip at the line and Potter had secured a silver medal for Team GB. Until she hadn’t.
A re-examination of an astonishing photo finish downgraded Great Britain’s mixed relay side to bronze behind the Americans just before the medal ceremony. Even the flags were arranged in the wrong order.
Reflecting on it, Potter was calm, proud but, almost imperceptibly, disappointed. You got that sense from her clarity about what she wants next.
“Yeah I won’t be that old,” she laughed. “I want to go for LA [in 2028].”
Picking up her bronze medal and looking at it, she adds: “I need a gold.”
Her drive for an Olympic medal her led her to change her entire career path from a 10,000m track athlete to triathlon.
So you can bet when she says she’ll be back, Potter means it.
But now is a time for a pause. Coming in with expectation takes its toll. Especially in a sport which has handsomely added to the British haul over the last two decades.
There has also been the uncertainty for all the triathletes about what may or may not lurk in the Seine, with swimming sessions cancelled and constant uncertainty about the races going ahead amid questions about the water quality.
“Coming here and delivering on the biggest stage with the pressure of being favourites has been hard, it’s been a lot,” Potter admits.
“I’m just happy – Olympic medals are very difficult to get. It’s one event every four years and most people come away from the Games disappointed.
“So we need to be really happy with what we have taken home.”
So an astonishing eight-year chapter in Potter’s life is at an end. She has changed sport more successfully than anyone could have imagined.
Her whole life had been geared towards Paris. So what does she do next?
“For years now this has been my one goal,” the Scot says. “It’s almost like you feel a little bit down once it’s all done.
“What’s next? I don’t know… well, I’m going to see Taylor Swift in a couple of weeks and then I’ll be back racing.
“I’ll go back to Leeds in a couple of days and get back into some easy training.”
Let the next era begin.
