Gwen Rosemary Jorgensen (born April 25, 1986, in

Waukesha, Wisconsin Waukesha ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Waukesha County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 71,158 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located along the Fox River (Illinois River tributary), Fox River adjacent to th ...

) is an American distance runner and professional

triathlete A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the time transitioning between the ...

. She is the

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

and

2015 ITU World Triathlon Series The 2015 ITU World Triathlon Series is a series of ten World Championship Triathlon events that lead up to a Grand Final held in Chicago. The Series is organised under the auspices of the world governing body of triathlon, the International Triath ...

Champion. She has been named

USA Triathlon USA Triathlon (USAT) is the national governing body for the multisport disciplines of triathlon, duathlon, aquathlon and winter triathlon in the United States. USA Triathlon is a member federation of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee and ...

's 2013 and 2014 Olympic/ITU Female Athlete of the Year. She was a member of the 2012 Olympic Team and again represented the United States in triathlon at the 2016 Summer Olympics, where she won the USA's first ever triathlon gold medal with a time of 1 hour, 56 minutes, and 16 seconds.

Career

Jorgensen attended the

University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

, where she swam and ran for the

Badgers Badgers are medium-sized short-legged omnivores in the superfamily Musteloidea. Badgers are a polyphyletic rather than a natural taxonomic grouping, being united by their squat bodies and adaptions for fossorial activity rather than by their ...

. She earned a master's degree in accounting, passed the CPA exam, and worked for

Ernst & Young EY, previously known as Ernst & Young, is a multinational corporation, multinational professional services partnership, network based in London, United Kingdom. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and PwC, it is one of the Big Four accounting firms, Big F ...

in Milwaukee as a tax accountant. Soon after graduating and beginning her new job,

, who was pursuing former college swimmers and runners, encouraged Jorgensen to try the sport of triathlon. In 2010, she was selected as USA Triathlon's Rookie of the year following her silver medal at the World University Triathlon Championships in Spain. At the 2011 World Championship Series in London, Jorgensen placed 2nd which earned her a spot on the 2012 US Olympic triathlon team. In the London Olympics she suffered a flat tire on the bike portion of the race and would finish in 38th place. In

, Jorgensen placed first in four consecutive World Triathlon Series races, something no other female had done in the history of the series. Her winning streak extended through 2015, with a total of 13 consecutive series wins by the end of the year. Her astonishing streak was finally ended in 2016 by Helen Jenkins in Gold Coast, Australia. By coincidence, Jenkins had been the last competitor to have beaten her before her streak, in

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

in 2014. In 2015, she joined

ECS Triathlon Espérance cycliste Sartrouville Triathlon or ECS Triathlon is a French sports club based in the suburbs of Paris, commune of Sartrouville. The club's specialization is triathlon for elite level athletes, especially Olympians. Team members have ...

, an elite club, based in Sartrouville, France. At the 2016 Summer Olympics, Jorgensen won gold in

triathlon A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of Swimming (sport), swimming, Cycle sport, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the ...

. After winning the gold medal in Rio, Gwen entered the

New York City Marathon The New York City Marathon, currently branded as the TCS New York City Marathon for sponsorship reasons, is an annual marathon () that courses through the five boroughs of New York City. It is the largest marathon in the world, with 53,627 fini ...

and placed 14th with a time of 2:41:01. Jorgensen announced via Twitter on January 19, 2017, that she and her husband were expecting a child. She gave birth to a boy, Stanley, on August 16, 2017 - almost two weeks after his due date. In November 2017, Jorgensen announced that she was retiring from triathlon, and focusing on the marathon, with the goal of winning an Olympic gold in the

discipline Discipline is the self-control that is gained by requiring that rules or orders be obeyed, and the ability to keep working at something that is difficult. Disciplinarians believe that such self-control is of the utmost importance and enforce a ...

Tokyo 2020 The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

. However, after suffering injuries and undergoing heel surgery during her marathon build-up, Jorgensen announced on December 4, 2019, that she would focus on qualifying in track, in either the 5,000m or 10,000m. However, she failed to qualify; she finished 9th in the 5,000m and was unable to complete the 10,000m. In October 2019, Jorgensen's mother and sister published ''Go, Gwen, Go: A Family's Journey to Olympic Gold''. In the book, they document Jorgensen's rise from a Milwaukee CPA to 2016 Olympic Champion and describe the family's experience raising an Olympian. Jorgensen returned to the ITU World Triathlon Series in 2023. She attempted to qualify for the US team for the 2024 Olympics triathlon. After finishing well back in two 2024

World Triathlon Championship Series The World Triathlon Championship Series is an annual series of triathlon events organised by World Triathlon. The series is used to crown an annual world champion since 2008. Previously, the ITU (the former name of World Triathlon) world champi ...

races (15th in Yokohama and 33rd in Hamburg), she was not selected to the team, though she was invited to be an alternate.

ITU competitions

Jorgensen's ITU race results are:

References

External links

Official website

USA Triathlon
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jorgensen, Gwen 1986 births Living people American female triathletes Sportspeople from Milwaukee Track and field athletes from Milwaukee Sportspeople from Waukesha, Wisconsin Triathletes at the 2011 Pan American Games Wisconsin Badgers women's swimmers Triathletes at the 2012 Summer Olympics Triathletes at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic triathletes for the United States American accountants American women accountants Ernst & Young people Olympic gold medalists for the United States in triathlon Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Pan American Games competitors for the United States 20th-century American women 21st-century American sportswomen