Aileen Reid reflected with satisfaction on her Olympic triathlon performance and has not ruled out competing again in Tokyo in 2020.
The most successful Irish triathlete of all time claimed a 21st-place finish as Gwen Jorgensen of the United States dethroned 2012 Olympic champion Nicola Spirig.
The 34-year-old was only 18 seconds behind the leader, Carolina Routier, out of the water, but lost time during the 40km cycle up and down the famous beachfront.
However she battled back on the 10km run to finish four minutes and 58 seconds behind Jorgensen and improve on her 43rd position in London four years ago.
Reid admitted that she gave it her all on the day where competitors were oushed to the limit.
“I put it all out there. I left everything that I had,” she told RTÉ Sport.
“It was a wee bit tactical in the run but I felt like I did the best job I could do to give myself the best chance for a good finish.
“On the bike, I could put my hand up and say I put in the work. I was leading my group up and down the hill each time, working with Helen.
“I did my best and I can only be happy with that.”
Working her way on the outside of the swimmers, the Irish athlete negotiated the choppy 1.5km swim and deliberately held back a little ahead of the challenging cycle.
“I knew that it was going to be choppy on the way out and the way back was quite fast because we were with the wind," she said,
“In a race like that, you are in danger of almost killing yourself in the first half and not having enough energy to swim well.
“I was conserving 2pc to finish strongly. Maybe I shouldn’t have done, I don’t know.”
It was on the bike where Reid lost ground on her rivals. Positioned in the chasing group, she couldn’t bridge the gap to the 18 in front, with her progress hindered in the chase of overall leader Lisa Norden of Sweden.
“I was with Lisa [Norden] heading into the hill. There was a girl in front of me weaving up the hill. They were actually zig-zagging up the hill.
“On the way down she sort of got in my way...I could just see Lisa going.”
Placed in 35th position after the bike section, she battled back after a difficult start to the run to finish strongly and improve her result of four years ago by 22 places.
Reid had intimated that the Commonwealth Games could be her swansong, but hasn’t ruled out going again for Tokyo in four years’ time.
With mother-of-one Spirig putting in a powerful performance to claim silver, she believes it demonstrates that having family doesn’t necessarily have to have a detrimental effect on an athlete’s career.
“I don’t think I had planned to,” she replied when asked if Tokyo was part of the plan.
“There’s now more girls racing on the circuit that have kids. It doesn’t seem to have done Nicola any harm and some of the other girls too, so never say never."
