Dame Flora Jane Duffy (born 30 September 1987) is a Bermudian triathlete. She won a gold medal at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

, Bermuda's first gold medal. She also competed in the Olympics in Beijing, London, and Rio de Janeiro. In 2018, she won gold in the women's triathlon at the XXI Commonwealth Games in Australia. She also won gold in the same event at the XXII Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022.

Athletic career

Duffy is the

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

and 2017 ITU World Triathlon Series World Champion, the 2015 and 2016 ITU Cross Triathlon World Champion, and a six-time winner (2014-2017, 2019, 2021) of the XTERRA World Championships. She competed for Bermuda at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

in Beijing, the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, th ...

in London, the

2016 Summer Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...

in Rio de Janeiro, and the

in Tokyo, where she won gold. It was Duffy's first Olympic medal, as well as Bermuda's first gold medal. Duffy's medal also made Bermuda the smallest country in the world to have won a gold medal at the Summer Olympics. In April 2018, Duffy won the first gold medal of the XXI Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia. Duffy won the women's sprint triathlon by a 43-second lead, becoming Bermuda's first female Commonwealth gold medalist. She was also scheduled to compete in the women's cross-country mountain bike at the Commonwealth Games, but did not start the event. Duffy is the only person to win three triathlon world titles in the same year in 2016, claiming the WTS, ITU Cross Triathlon, and Xterra titles in close succession. Duffy is the only triathlete in WTS history to post the fastest swim, bike, and run portions in the same race. Duffy holds the record for the largest winning margin in both Olympic and Sprint distance races in a WTS event. Duffy was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(OBE) in the

2018 Birthday Honours The 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as p ...

and

Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

(DBE) in the

2022 New Year Honours The 2022 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 15 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrations ...

, both for services to sport in Bermuda. Aswell, she has been crowned as the ITU Triathlon World Champion the 25 of November 2022 after beating Georgia Taylor-Brown. In Abu Dhabi.

Personal life

Duffy is of English parentage: her father is from

Barrow-in-Furness Barrow-in-Furness is a port town in Cumbria, England. Historically in Lancashire, it was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1867 and merged with Dalton-in-Furness Urban District in 1974 to form the Borough of Barrow-in-Furness. In 2023 t ...

and her mother is from

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Br ...

, therefore she was eligible to represent Great Britain but opted to represent Bermuda where she grew up. Duffy was privately educated at the independent

Warwick Academy Warwick Academy is the oldest school in Bermuda, established in about 1659. It is located in Warwick Parish. It was named after the English colonial administrator Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick, who gave the original land. Its first Schoolmast ...

, then abroad at the independent

Kelly College Kelly College was a coeducational independent school in the English public school tradition situated in the outskirts of Tavistock, Devon, with around 350 students ranging from ages 3 to 18. There was an associated preparatory school for prima ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

and the

University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado sy ...

, where she graduated with a BA degree in Sociology. Duffy launched The Flora Fund days after winning the inaugural WTS Bermuda in April 2018. Through the fund, Duffy hopes to enable youth in Bermuda to pursue their potential, ultimately contributing to a healthier, more ambitious community. In December 2017, Duffy married

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

n triathlete Dan Hugo in

Stellenbosch Stellenbosch (; )A Universal Pronounc ...

, Hugo's native town, where the couple reside when not training in

Boulder In geology, a boulder (or rarely bowlder) is a rock fragment with size greater than in diameter. Smaller pieces are called cobbles and pebbles. While a boulder may be small enough to move or roll manually, others are extremely massive. In ...

References

External links