Beth Potter said she came for the gold medal, but was still very happy to have a bronze medal around her neck at the end.

Her achievement was the culmination of a remarkable eight-year success story that began with her watching the Olympic triathlon on Copacabana Beach while drinking from a coconut.

In Rio, the then physics teacher had used her summer holidays to run the 10,000 m on the track for the British team. Plagued by illness, she fought her way to a modest 34th place and was disillusioned with her first sporting passion.

She spoke to British triathlon coaches at the McDonald’s in the Olympic Village about a possible switch. She made an official decision a month later when she saw Alistair Brownlee carrying his dehydrated brother Jonny across the finish line at the World Series final in Mexico.

“When Jonny collapsed and Alistair carried him across the finish line, I thought, ‘I want to do this sport,'” she said.

A year later, she gave up her teaching job and the former junior swimmer devoted herself fully to her new sport. She missed out on selection for Tokyo, which she didn’t like at the time, but today she admits that it was too early.

She trains regularly with the Brownlee brothers in Leeds and these were typical Yorkshire conditions to begin with after heavy rain overnight left the roads slippery, and Brownlee Sr. was in the stands cheering her on to a medal.

Preparations for the triathlon had been overshadowed by fears that Potter and her fellow triathletes might once again be exposed to Olympic sickness, as the Seine was repeatedly tested for safety for swimming.

Just 24 hours earlier, E.coli levels were too high, but a final check at 3.30am French time this morning found the test to be adequate. Olympic organisers have been criticised for their decision to hold the swim in the Seine, which threatened to temporarily turn the triathlon into a duathlon and could result in the swim being cancelled if conditions do not improve.

As world champion and winner of the test event in Paris, Potter was one of the medal contenders alongside pre-race favorite Cassandra Beaugrand, who lives in Paris.

Beaugrand had outstripped the world leaders in recent races in Hamburg and Cagliari. In her hometown, she was among the leaders after the swim, was part of the top 10 in the bike race and finally crossed the finish line on the last lap of the 10km race, giving France its sixth Olympic gold of these Games.

For Great Britain, the bronze medal for Potter, who was surprisingly beaten by Swiss Julie Derron, meant that the medal count now stands at 13.

She said: “I’m so happy. I wanted gold, but Cassandra and Julie were just too good for me. But I’ve come a long way in eight years.”

“I feel like I did it for myself, but also for everyone who has helped me and believed in me over the last eight years. My coaches told me to stay in the top five in the swim. I mainly stayed out of trouble and managed to stay upright on the bike. I really gave it my all. I’m super happy, it’s a bronze medal at the Olympics.”

British Tokyo silver medallist Georgia Taylor-Brown has had a torturous time since then. A calf tear forced her to take a long break and she only returned to competition in March.

Like Potter, she was in the top 10 after the swim and in the lead group on the bike. But when the run began, her lack of racing sharpness gave way and she fell back to sixth place. The third Briton in the field, Kate Waugh, struggled in the swim but fought her way back to 15th place.

Although Potter wasn’t necessarily aiming for gold, the bronze medal was the reward for her journey.