Olympic Athlete Dedicates Her Paris Gold Medal to Her Late Dog

An Olympic athlete won a gold medal at the Paris Games this year, and she dedicated her win to her late dog.

Sharon van Rouwendaal competed at the Paris Olympics and left with an impressive win and a new record. She dedicated her win to her late dog, Rio. Take a look.

According to Fox61 News, Sharon, from the Netherlands, is a marathon swimmer, which was a very good event for her.

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The sport is relatively new to the Olympic world, introduced in 2008 during the Beijing Games. The event requires swimmers to race in open water. This year, the athletes took to the Seine River, and Sharon has been a frontrunner in the sport for years.

Sharon won the gold medal for marathon swimming this year and also set the record for the first woman ever to win the Olympic marathon swimming event two times, first winning at the Rio Olympics.

She named her beautiful Pomeranian after the Rio Olympics, where she won her first gold medal in 2016. She dedicated this year's win to her pup, who passed away unexpectedly a few months before the Olympics.

When Shannon pulled herself out of the river after winning, she tapped and kissed a tattoo of a dog paw print on her wrist, which she had done a few days after posting on social media that Rio had passed away.

"He was my everything," she shared in an interview. "My world stopped when he died. I didn't want to swim, actually, for three weeks... Then my dad said, 'You have to do it for him,'... and I wanted to swim one more Olympics for him."

Sharon van Rouwendaal Had a Very Special Bond With Her Dog

On May 6, 2024, Sharon shared a video compilation of her life with Rio and shared left a beautiful message .

"I did it all for us. I bought a house for you and me to live together after Paris Olympics only there were some complications on the way," she wrote in the caption.

"Today, I need to say goodbye to my little man who has given me the best feeling in the world, better than any medal I ever won, better than any swimming moment I have ever experienced," Sharon continued.

"You are and always will be the most important thing in my life. I hope you get some rest. I will never forget you. Mummy loves you."

Sharon had said she wasn't sure if she would go to the Olympics this year because she wasn't excited with the cloud of grief after losing Rio. But she did, and she showed well, and we know Rio is very proud of her.