“Olympic spirit at its best”

Jenny Rissveds won Olympic bronze after a thrilling duel with Haley Batten.
Now the Swede is praised to the skies after the words to the rival in the middle of the race.
“Olympic spirit at its best”, writes the International Cycling Federation.

Jenny Rissveds won Olympic gold in Mountain Bike in 2016, but a lot has happened since then. She has been open about her struggle with mental illness, and in the last Tokyo Olympics she was never close to a medal. But in Sunday’s Olympic race in Paris, it was, again, a podium place for Rissveds.

Bronze after great drama

In a highly dramatic race, she looked like she would have to struggle for a long time to even have a chance at bronze, but after a puncture for the rider in second place, an opportunity opened up, and it then became a thrilling duel between Rissveds and the American Haley Batten for second and third place . Rissveds couldn’t take part in the sprint but took Sweden’s second medal in Paris, when she finished third.

But it is not only for his effort in the over three-mile-long race that Rissveds is now widely praised in the cycling world. During the race, Haley Batten, who thus won silver, suffered a puncture on her rear tire. It was noticed by Rissveds – who in the telecast of the race was heard alerting American leaders. So it was Rissved who – despite the fact that they were dueling for the podium places – enabled the team to quickly fix Haley’s puncture.

The words praised by all

Rissved’s fine gesture is now highly praised by everyone, and the international cycling federation has drawn attention to the fantastically fine gesture on its social media.

“Olympic spirit at its best”, they write, according to Aftonbladet.

Jenny Rissveds could also have filed a protest against Batten after the race, when she broke the rules of not accepting a bottle that was held out to her from a leader. But she thought Batten deserved his silver, and afterwards she heaped praise on her competitor.

– She is an impressive athlete. I gain more and more respect for her every race I run against her. She is growing all the time. She gets smarter and smarter with each competition. It’s fun to see her development, says Rissveds to Aftonbladet.