Shanne Braspennincx is a miracle: six years after having suffered a heart attack, the Dutchwoman became on Thursday in Tokyo Olympic champion in keirin, in track cycling. She was surrounded on the podium by New Zealander Ellesse Andrews and Canadian Lauriane Genest. "
I thought my career was over,
" said the new Olympic champion, referring to the heart attack that struck her in 2015, during a training camp in the United States. “
It took me a long time, six or seven months, to find out if I could resort to the highest level. And even then, it was hard to go back to my old level. It took me a few years to come back and regain confidence in my body, which had sort of let me go
”,did she say. "
Today I take medicine but I can give it my all.
Otherwise I wouldn't be an Olympic champion
”.
When she was unwell on her bicycle, her right artery was already completely blocked, and her body had naturally operated a bypass mechanism.
“
My body had made a bypass, through smaller vessels to continue feeding my heart,
” she explained after her victory.
To discover
The full Olympic program
The Olympic medal table
