Flora Duffy hails Cassandre Beaugrand’s ‘special’ Olympics victory in Paris 2024 pressure cooker

Very few triathletes know what it’s like to win an individual Olympic gold medal, but Dame Flora Duffy is part of that select group – and so too now is Cassandre Beaugrand.

A four-time World Champion and double Commonwealth Games winner, Duffy more than handled the pressure when she triumphed in Tokyo in 2021 to win Bermuda’s first ever gold medal.

And in Paris, after battling back from injury, she animated the women’s race with a brilliant swim in strong currents before going solo early on the bike.

Ultimately Duffy, who finished fifth, would have no answer to the run pace of big home hope Beaugrand – but she had the perfect perspective to appreciate just what she achieved in succeeding her as Olympic champion.

‘I don’t think people realise how hard it is’

Speaking on the ‘Chasing the Burn’ podcast with Chelsea Burns and Kevin McDowell, she underlined the scale of the accomplishment.

Duffy said: “I congratulated Cassandre after the race and gave her a hug, but I don’t think people realise how hard it is, what she did. [Not just] how amazing of a performance it was, but how hard it is, given the pressure.

“It wasn’t just four years because France was awarded the Olympics, I don’t know, it was probably eight years [it was actually seven, with Paris getting the go-ahead in September 2017]. So she would have had that hanging over her. 

“And that’s a long time to sort of know you’re being prepared for this day and it would have only built as the years have gone on and as someone that experienced similar, but not quite the same level, it’s really hard. 

“In those final two years, there’s not really a day that goes by where someone doesn’t mention it or talk about it or ask you about it, and it’s just continually there. 

You just know it’s there in the back of your mind. 

“And so the way she handled the pressure and the way she raced in conditions that she previously has not excelled in, I thought was really, really special and just speaks to how amazing the performance was.”

Turning a weakness into a strength

The pressure of a home Games is something we spoke to athletics legend Michael Johnson about here on TRI247 late last year.

He thrived on it in Atlanta in 1996 and told us:  “It increases pressure, it motivates you, it increases expectations – it does all of those things… but it can be tough.”

And Beaugrand, also racing in her home city, took the Johnson route in producing her very best form when it mattered most.

Her bike handling – particularly in wet conditions – had been called into question in the past.

But she moved to Loughborough to train in the rainy British weather for the 18 months up to Paris and it was a switch that paid rich dividends.

For heavy rain had saturated the Paris course in the hours before the race and that combined with the cobbles made for a seriously challenging bike section which was uncomfortable to watch as rider after rider crashed.

But Beaugrand looked super smooth throughout and was rewarded with the ultimate prize in the sport.