Olympic star delights in return to Bermuda

American silver medallist Lauren Tamayo told of too-short uniforms, sleepless nights and cramping legs on the Olympic podium.

Tamayo jumped at the opportunity to come back to Bermuda when BBA president Peter Dunne invited her to speak at their awards ceremony, which was held recently at the Royal Hamilton Dinghy Club.

Her and husband Mike, who runs top US cycling team UnitedHealthCare, both spoke at the banquet.

Tamayo’s previous forays on the island was during the hey days of Bermuda Grand Prix, an event she won in 2004.

“I was excited to come back here,” she said.

Tamayo said the courses for the Grand Prix were “dynamic” and “that wasn’t something that you always get when you race in the States.

“The roads were a bit narrower and it was a bit tricky. I remember racing in the crit in Hamilton at night. There were a lot of little things that we didn’t get when racing in the States and that made it fun.”

She said competing in the London Olympics with pursuit team-mates Sarah Hammer and Dotsie Bausch was both “amazing” and “overwhelming”.

“There were a lot of different emotions that I went through in the lead up to the Games.”

Taking on the Brits

Tamayo and her team-mates briefly held the world record in 2010 but it was surpassed by the Brits, who also were the home crowd favourites.

“The London Games were definitely the loudest track event we had been on.

“We knew the British team were going to be the team to beat. Trying to beat them on their home soil was going to be a pretty tall feat.”

Adding an additional layer of difficulty, the team had to compete in too small uniforms as they did not arrive until they were already in London.

Pearl Izumi manufactured the skinsuits without knowing the correct sizes “so they just guessed”.

Tamayo, who is about 6 feet tall and her team-nate Bausch is close to her height, said Pearl Izumi sent two triple extra smalls, one double extra small and one extra small to fit them.

“We kind of just looked at each other ‘Okay, how are we going to work this out? Paper, rock scissors, let’s go’. Fortunately, we were able to squeeze into the skinsuits.”

On the day of the race “everything happened so fast. I didn’t hear much of anything walking up on the track as I was focused on myself because I wanted to do everything I could for my team-mates because at the end of the day it was about being there with my team.

“We were fortunate to come home with the silver medal, which adds a whole other dimension to the Olympics.

“It’s been a life-changing event for me.”

Ms Tamayo said the entire medal ceremony is a blank to her because it happened so fast after the race.

“We didn’t have a chance to absorb what happened and really enjoy the podium. My only thought while on the podium is that ‘my legs are cramping. I need to sit down. I can’t stand here any more’.”

She said it wasn’t until the team was safely back in the Olympic Village that she could enjoy what had been accomplished.

“It wasn’t until we were back in our room at two or three o’clock in the morning.  I was there with my team-mates and we could finally calm down and lay down in bed.

“After about 20 minutes of laying there I was still so excited. I whispered across to my team-mate ‘Dotsie are you still awake?’.

“She said ‘No, I can’t sleep.’ Two minutes later our other team-mate comes knocking on the door.

“That was when we had the time to sit down and talk about everything and absorb what had happened to us.  Not only winning the medal, representing my country and how many people appreciated that. It was a bigger deal than I thought it was before I went.”