Why the best triathlete in history is making the unlikeliest of comebacks
At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Gwen Jorgensen pulled away on the final lap of the run to cross the finish line, far ahead of second place. In front of cheering crowds on the Copacabana Beach, she won the U.S. its first Olympic gold medal in triathlon and broke into tears. She was the most dominant woman triathlete in history.
This past November, two kids and more than six years later, Jorgenson set out to make her return to the sport. She ran one minute, then walked for five. Later, she rode 20 minutes on a stationary bike, pleasantly surprised with how good she felt. She decided she was going to go for it.
So on Saturday, just three months after those earliest days of training, the 36-year-old will compete at the Oceania Triathlon Cup in New Zealand, in a long-shot bid to make the 2024 Olympic team for Paris.
“I’m excited. I’m happy,” she said. “And motivated by what’s possible.”
That includes the possibility of letting her kids see what it’s like to chase their dreams, even if they fall short. The whole family, plus the in-laws to help with the kids, have headed to New Zealand for the start of this final Olympic run.
“Gwen has nothing to prove,” said her husband and agent, Pat Lemieux. “It’s a lot more fun than we’ve ever had,” he said.
Jorgensen’s original Olympic journey is the stuff of legends. She started as a swimmer at the University of Wisconsin before joining the cross country and track teams, where she earned All-American honors. After college, Jorgensen was working a regular job as an accountant at Ernst & Young when USA Triathlon’s Barb Lindquist suggested she try a triathlon. (A local pro cyclist, Lemieux, ultimately helped her with her biking, too.)
In only her second year in triathlon, Jorgensen made the 2012 London Olympic team. A flat tire there left her with a 38th-place finish, but it was what came next that cemented her multisport fame.
In the years after, she went on to win 23 world triathlon medals, 17 of them gold. To this day, it’s the most of any female triathlete. Jorgensen followed an undefeated 2015 season with that dominant race at the 2016 Olympics.
Then, she quit. There were no more goals left to accomplish and, most important, she wasn’t having fun anymore.
“It was her choice to step away, because she’d gotten what she wanted out of it,” said Lemieux.
In 2017, she gave birth to her son, Stanley, and had to have vaginal reconstruction surgery, she said, experiencing a number of labor complications. It was six weeks before she even tried to run, and when she did, she only made it past two houses down the street before she had to stop.
Running had been her real love, and she wanted to see how good she could be if she just focused on it. Instead of retiring, she joined Nike’s Bowerman Track Club and ultimately placed ninth in the 5,000 meters at the Olympic trials. Not bad, but nowhere near what she had done in triathlon.
“It’s no secret that my running career was not what I wanted it to be,” she said.
During her pregnancy with her second son, George, in 2022, Jorgensen started swimming and biking as a form of cross-training. Back when she was training full-time for triathlon, she was sick of swimming. But this time around, she had fun with it again. She also was getting faster in the pool, logging laps with a squad in Boulder, even as her pregnancy went on.
She didn’t know exactly how she’d feel after giving birth though, or what the recovery would be like, so she waited. She let the idea just sit there.
Lemieux also planted a seed in her head. “I just said I think you could be really good at this still,” he said.
He also pointed out one big change: Triathlon had added a mixed relay event to the Tokyo Olympics — a new male-female-male-female format, where each of four athletes does a mini sprint triathlon significantly shorter than the Olympic distances (Usually a 300-meter swim, 6.8K bike ride and 2K run versus the Olympic distances of 1.5-kilometer swim, 40K bike and 10K run).
The U.S. team earned a silver medal in the relay in Japan, but it was a race Jorgensen had never contested on the Olympic stage. “I always felt like I missed out,” she said.
The two of them wondered if she could just aim to race the relay at the 2024 Olympics, but the answer was no. All athletes have to race the individual triathlon to be relay-eligible. And with the U.S. team’s depth and talent, for Jorgensen to qualify for the 2024 Olympic triathlon, she’ll have to beat a lot of very good athletes.
The U.S. has four women currently ranked in the top 20 in the world, plus the Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist, Katie Zaferes, who is unranked because she’s also coming back from pregnancy. Only three will ultimately make the team.
Last time, heading into Rio, Jorgensen trained with a squad of other Olympians, spending half the year in Australia and half in Spain, while Lemieux managed her meals and mechanics and logistics. This time, she’s back with her old coach, Jamie Turner, but she’s stayed home in Boulder and trained with local friends when she can.
She had four years to build up to the Rio Olympics. This time, she’s had four months between giving birth to George and racing her first event in the qualification process.
“It is crazy,” said Jorgensen.
To make it even harder, every athlete needs a certain number of points and world ranking just to get to the start line at the Olympic qualifying events this August and September. Right now, since she hasn’t raced in years, Jorgensen has zero points and no ranking.
That’s why she’s starting at a smaller event in New Zealand this weekend, and even though she doesn’t think it’ll be flawless, she’s hoping it’ll earn her a start at a bigger event in a month. Then, if she performs well enough there, that’ll earn her more points and more starts.
“If I perform, it won’t be an issue,” she said, so she is not going to waste energy worrying about it.
That doesn’t mean it won’t be hard; there are lots of things she hasn’t practiced in years and the sport is even more competitive, plus she’ll be traveling with the whole entourage. “I expect a turbulent return,” said Lemieux, “and that’s totally OK.”
Even if training isn’t always perfect this time around, she and Lemieux feel she can be good enough and check enough boxes that it’ll all come together.
“Part of what’s drawing me back is that it’s not the same,” Jorgensen said. Whether she wins or loses, “my sons will learn a lot too.”