BOISE, Idaho — THIS DAY IN SPORTS…August 13, 2008:
Kristin Armstrong becomes Boise’s first-ever Olympic gold medalist and only the second American ever to take a gold in women’s cycling when she wins the time trial in Beijing by 24 seconds over Britain’s Emma Pooley. Armstrong had been a promising triathlete before osteoarthritis forced her to give up running in 2001. She switched to cycling, first trying the hometown HP Women’s Challenge in 2002, finishing seventh. Two years later, she was in the Olympics, as she finished eighth in the road race in Athens in 2004.
But the time trial was the ticket, as Armstrong went on to win the world championship in that event in 2006. Kristin won the world title again in 2009—then retired to start a family with husband Joe Savola. After son Lucas was born, she began an amazing comeback that produced two more Olympic golds. Armstrong’s 2006 medal in the time trial went relatively smoothly despite the fact that she had broken her clavicle in a race in Boise 10 weeks earlier. She shared the podium with Lucas after being presented with her gold medal.
Armstrong’s record third gold medal at Rio in 2016 was much more adventurous. Weeks earlier, she had survived an arbitration attempt by two rivals through USA Cycling to bump her off the Olympic team. USA Cycling had taken some heat for including Armstrong on the 2016 team, as she had been competing for less than two years since her last retirement. Some wondered how hard she would work for her teammates in the road race three days prior to the time trial, and some questioned her age (42). But USA Cycling stuck with her. Kristin did work hard for the team in the road race, and she had plenty left for her historic ride in the time trial.
After she returned from Rio, the city of Boise rededicated 98-year-old Municipal Park as Kristin Armstrong Municipal Park. The facility thus became part of Boise’s “Ribbon of Jewels,” the parks named after prominent female civic leaders. (The major parks in the ribbon, in addition to Kristin Armstrong, are Julia Davis, Ann Morrison, Kathryn Albertson, Esther Simplot and Marianne Williams—and I’d count Dona Larsen, too. And Cherie Buckner-Webb, while we’re at it.)
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
