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'I was crying but no one could see' | Swimmer Natalie Hinds describes moment she got her medal

Hinds and her team took the bronze medal in the 4X100m freestyle relay.

ATLANTA — Natalie Hinds just returned home from her first Olympics with a new favorite souvenir: her bronze medal.

The swimmer trained with University of Georgia's program leading up to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Hinds and her team took the bronze medal in the 4X100m freestyle relay. 

She described the moment when she was on the Olympic podium and finally got to put the medal around her neck as emotional.

"I was crying but no one could see because we have to wear those huge masks on our face, so, I just remember holding my medal and I closed my eyes to try to get a snapshot of the moment because it was so beautiful."

Credit: AP
Bronze medalists United States women's 4x100m freestyle relay team pose for a photo at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Sunday, July 25, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

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Hinds said all of their teammates were in the stands cheering them on. 

"I'm so happy that I was able to come out of the Olympics with a medal," she said. "Yes, it's so beautiful and so heavy as well. Then, they engrave bottom with the event." 

After failing to make the 2016 Rio Olympic swimming team, Hinds broke up with swimming. She finished her degree at the University of Florida and upended her life to Atlanta -- where she worked a 9 to 5.

She then decided to move to Athens and give her Olympic dream a second chance. 

"It is kind of just a shock, you were chasing something and then you finally attained it," she said.  

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