A Pennsylvania grandmother made a name for herself over the weekend by placing third in the race walking event at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, more than two decades after she first retired from the grueling sport.
Michelle Rolle, 58, placed third in the 20,000km race walk in Springfield, Oregon on Saturday with a time of 1 hour, 42 minutes and 17 seconds.
The bronze medal caps a remarkable return to the sport that Rolle once retired from to home-school her five children, all now grown. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
It also came three months after the birth of her first grandchild.
“She’s an excited grandma,” her husband, Michael Roll, told the newspaper before the race. “We get pictures of her little grandson every day.”
Rohrl competed in three Olympic Games, in 1992, 1996 and 2000, with his best result being 14th place in the 10 km race walk in 1996.
According to the Inquirer, the four-time 20-kilometer U.S. champion continued to train every day in preparation for the qualifiers despite suffering a concussion last year and ongoing knee pain.
She reportedly stumbled and fell a few weeks ago during a race leading up to Saturday’s Olympic trials, breaking her jaw.
But the injury didn’t slow her down.
“I just said, ‘I have to get up and keep moving forward,'” the new grandmother told the newspaper.
Roll began her collegiate career as a long-distance runner but switched to walking after suffering an Achilles injury.
Robin Stevens (41) won first place in the 20,000m walk preliminary race, and Miranda Melville (35) came in second. According to the Oregon Register-Guard.
However, the paper said none of the top three finishers reached the Olympic standard time of 1 hour 29 minutes 20 seconds.
Heading into the trials, Rohr told the Inquirer she didn’t think she’d be an Olympian again, but she was still ready to savor the moment.
“My middle daughter was like, ‘Mom, you were a really good athlete, and then you had kids,'” Rolle said. “And then we all grew up and you became a great athlete again, and I owe it to us.’ So yeah, I wanted that. I was ready for a break and I wanted that part of my life.”
