A 31-year-old Harvard graduate won a gold medal for the U.S. in the Olympics in a sport she learned just 6 years ago.

In the Paris Olympics, Kristen Faulkner ended a 40-year drought for the U.S. in a sport she took up for fun six years ago.

On Sunday, the 31-year-old American woman won the gold medal in the women's road race, marking the first time an American rider has achieved this feat since Connie Carpenter did so in the 1984 Los Angeles games.

In Homer, Alaska, a small city on the Kenai Peninsula, Faulkner spent her childhood hiking and rowing. Later, she joined the women's crew team at Harvard University and graduated in 2016.

She began competitive cycling in 2017 after relocating to New York for a job as a venture capitalist.

In a recent interview with NBC News, the Olympian stated that they still needed that outdoors fix that was a significant part of their life.

Although Faulkner wasn't initially slated to participate in the 2024 Paris Olympics, he was later invited to join Team USA in July after Taylor Knibb withdrew her position in the road race to concentrate on the Olympic time trial and triathlon events.

"After the race, she told reporters, "This is a dream come true, but I'm still wondering how my name got on that finish line sign.""

Quitting a career in finance to be a full-time athlete

In 2020, Faulkner went from signing up for an introductory clinic for women's cycling in New York City's Central Park to racing for Team TIBCO-Silicon Valley Bank, the longest-running professional women's cycling team in North America.

In early 2021, she left venture capital to focus on the sport full-time, assuming it would be a short break from her career path.

She told the Wall Street Journal, "I thought it would take two to three years."

Faulkner, who now rides for the American Continental Women Team EF-Oatly-Cannondale, has developed an even deeper passion for cycling: the competitiveness, the camaraderie with her teammates, and the constant grind of training. Faulkner, who now resides in San Francisco, rides around 50 miles a day.

Her career as a venture capitalist has played a crucial role in her success as a professional athlete, as she revealed to the Associated Press.

"I learned how to calculate and assess risks, and I apply that mindset in races by considering the risk-reward ratio and knowing when to take calculated risks."

Overcoming a career-threatening injury to win gold at the Olympics

Faulkner almost didn't make it to the Olympics.

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The road race spans 98 miles, starting and finishing in Paris, and features hilly routes that lead to the Trocadéro, where the River Seine and Eiffel Tower provide a picturesque backdrop.

Faulkner told NBC News that it's never a question of whether he will continue, but rather how he will proceed.

Faulkner is striving for her second Olympic medal, this time in team pursuit where she will race alongside three of her US teammates against cyclists from other countries. The event commences on Tuesday with qualifying. Her unexpected gold medal victory in the previous Olympics fulfilled a lifelong dream for Faulkner, who has always aspired to compete in the Olympics since watching the Sydney 2000 Games. "It was an incredible thing to witness," she said in an interview with Global Cycling Network in March. "At that moment, it became my ultimate goal to participate in the Olympics." She added, "It's never been about achieving recognition in the sport, it's been about that little girl inside of me and her aspirations as a child."

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