The blue warmup Chloe Dygert wore to the medal stand inside the Olympic velodrome hid the scars from her serious thigh injury, but the bandage on her chin from her road race crash at the Paris Games was clearly visible. These were reminders of the tough and painful road she traveled to win the gold medal.
Dygert, a long-time member of the U.S. women’s pursuit team, joined forces with newly crowned Olympic road race champion Kristen Faulkner, Jennifer Valente, and Lily Williams to defeat New Zealand in the finals on Wednesday night.
This victory allowed Dygert to finally stand on the top step of the podium and hear her country’s anthem. “I’m going to cherish this,” Dygert said, taking a brief pause. “It doesn’t stop here. We keep going.”
Her relentless drive to keep going, despite crashes, injuries, and setbacks, made her Olympic dream a reality. Dygert had been seen as a rising star even before the 2016 Rio Games, where she helped the U.S. win a silver medal in the team pursuit.
Coached by Kristin Armstrong, a three-time Olympic time trial champion, Dygert was expected to take over for the U.S. in time trials after Armstrong’s retirement.
However, disaster struck while Dygert was on her way to the Tokyo Olympics when she crashed during the time trial world championships in Italy. She collided with a guardrail, fell into a ravine, and saw a severe gash on her thigh down to the bone.
It took nine months before Dygert could get back on a bike. By the time of the delayed Tokyo Games, she was still recovering but managed to help the women’s pursuit team win a bronze medal.
Her recovery faced more setbacks, including the Epstein-Barr virus, which caused severe fatigue, and heart surgery for supraventricular tachycardia, a condition with an unusually fast heartbeat that can be risky for a cyclist.
She also faced personal challenges that put her in what she described as “a dark place.” In an interview with The Associated Press last year, she admitted there were times when she questioned whether she wanted to continue with cycling and her life.
“What I physically had to go through for the injury itself, then mentally what I had to go through — all the personal things I won’t go into — my life at times did not matter to me,” Dygert told the AP. “I didn’t care if I was alive. I did not care about things.”
“People don’t see and understand,” she continued honestly, “and I can say the same thing: I see people with injuries and things going on, and I can’t understand what they’re going through.”
Dygert spent some time racing in Belgium earlier this year with her professional team, but her main focus was the Paris Games.
She aimed to do well in the time trial, where she was one of the favorites for gold, before competing in the road race and the pursuit at the Vélodrome National de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines.
Her time trial hopes were affected when, on wet roads in heavy rain, she crashed during a turn. Although she got back on her bike quickly, winning gold was no longer possible. With blood dripping down her chin, she managed to secure the bronze medal.
In the road race, Faulkner closed in on a breakaway in the last kilometers and then made a bold attack along the River Seine. She went alone to the finish line, earning the first American gold medal in an Olympic road race in 40 years. Dygert soon joined in the celebration, helping Faulkner raise the American flag.
They celebrated again Wednesday night after defeating New Zealand in a lively, hot velodrome. It was a moment Dygert had dreamed of for years, and one that those around her cherished as well.
“I mean, with where she was and where she’s come, it’s just amazing,” said Gary Sutton, the endurance track coach for USA Cycling, who has worked with Dygert for nearly a decade and will retire after the world championships in October.
“She’s one of the world’s best athletes,” Sutton said, “and you know, I mean, what she’s been through — there’s a lot of stuff that happens behind the scenes, and people don’t see it. And she’s just handled it all, everything, like a real professional.”
