When the Olympic Marathon came around 18 months after she had qualified for the team, Seidel once again exceeded her own expectations with a typically gutsy, gritty performance in the sweltering heat of Sapporo.Īs leaders Peres Jepchirchir and Brigid Kosgei of Kenya pulled away in the closing stages of the race, Seidel found herself vying for a medal alongside Israel’s Lonah Chamtai Salpeter.īut with two-and-a-half miles remaining, Salpeter hit a wall and faded from contention.Ī medal was now Seidel’s to lose, and she duly wrapped up the bronze with a scream of joy as she crossed the finish line - the third US woman ever to medal in the Olympic marathon. The postponement of the Olympics did give Seidel the chance to compete in a second marathon - a sixth-place finish on a modified, elites-only London course involving 20 laps around Buckingham Palace - before gradually turning her attention to the Games. “I think I really struggled with that, and I struggled going into the Games and feeling like I belonged there and trying to prove that I wasn’t a mistake on that team.” “I struggled with this kind of imposter syndrome after the trials, specifically as probably the person no one expected to make the team and the person that got probably the most criticism like: Hey, why is this girl on the team?” she says.
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