Olympic Road Race

[schneefink]

I'm not really watching the Olympics, I just occasionally hear some fun stories of surprising victories. My favorite so far (and I like to think it would be even if she wasn't Austrian) is the story of cyclist Anna Kiesenhofer, the 30-year-old postdoc mathematician hobby athlete without a team who won the road race because for a large part of the race she was so far ahead on her own that the rest of the field forgot she was there, and the second place rider even thought she had won at first. (Unfortunately most videos from the Olympics are blocked in my country – and tbh I'm too lazy to figure out a way around it – but I know there are highlight videos etc.)

Comments

[primeideal]

Yessssss, this is awesome.

My facebook friends are like "so now when someone asks 'what can you do with a math PhD' we have a new answer!!" :D

[schneefink]

Totally xD

Apparently she did her own calculations for training plans considering body core temperature, something like that, so there's actually a connection ^^

[jae]

I care about the Olympics even less than you do, but that really is a good story!

-J

[schneefink]

Right? I enjoyed the interview where she said she had to tell her university that she will have to extend her vacation because she unfortunately won a gold medal xD

[extempore]

because for a large part of the race she was so far ahead on her own that the rest of the field forgot she was there, and the second place rider even thought she had won at first

Fantastic, wasn't it? XD

[schneefink]

Communication is important :D

[naye]

I am not following the Olympics, so thanks for sharing this gem!

[schneefink]

You're welcome! Normally I tend to be annoyed by our local media's overwhelming focus on national athletes, but here it happens to be convenient.

[dolorosa_12]

I loved this story — truly an amazing moment!

[schneefink]

It was great :)