Dutch swimmer Sharon van Rouwendaal has dedicated her Olympic gold medal in the 10km open water marathon swim to her dog Rio, a Pomeranian who died in May.
“I didn’t care about swimming for three weeks, he was my little baby,” she said after winning gold on Thursday morning in a thrilling finish that saw her overtake her training partner, Australian Moesha Johnson, in the final lap to grab a win.
After emerging from the River Seine, she pointed at a tattoo of Rio’s paw print on her wrist and kissed it.
“He needed a little operation for his lungs so I gave it to him in the hope we could live in the Netherlands after the Olympics together in my house with a garden. He had complications after the surgery and he died,” she explained.
“I was like, ‘let’s try it and I’ll swim for him with my whole heart’. I did it, I won for him.”
Van Rouwendaal is a dog lover and lost another friend, Flappy, in December.
She still has a Pomeranian named Pongo that she got for Christmas late last year.
As if she wasn’t likeable enough already, then she goes and does this ….. no chance of disliking her now.