Olympic gold medal-winning marathon swimmer Sharon van Rouwendaal says she was powered to glory by the memory of her dead dog.
Van Rouwendaal, who won 5.5 seconds ahead of Australia's silver medallist Moesha Johnson, lost her beloved pet in complications due to lung surgery three months ago.
After her triumph, the Dutchwoman revealed her "world stopped" at the dog's death, and she almost walked away from the sport before a pep-talk from her father.
"In May, my little dog died. He needed an operation on his lungs so I gave it to him in hope that we could live after the Olympics together in my house and with my garden," she said.
"He had complications after the surgery and he died. Then my world stopped and I didn't care about swimming for like three weeks.
"He was my little baby. But my dad said that you've been away from him for like seven years because of competitions. Do one more race and give it everything and swim for him.
“So I had a tattoo three days after the cremation and I said: ‘Let’s try it and I will swim for him with my whole heart’ - and I did it - I won for him.”
The gold medal was the Dutchwoman's second, backing up her success at the Rio de Janeiro Games.
Competitors spent more than two hours in the Seine River, which has faced water quality issues during the fortnight of the Games, despite a hugely expensive rehabilitation project to clean the waterway.
