Team USA's Molly Seidel saw her family back home in the U.S. after winning bronze in the marathon when a reporter handed her a telephone, and she went through a range of emotions.
She laughed, she cried, and then she said what anyone would say upon seeing a crowd of laughing, dancing, screaming, celebrating people.
"Please drink a beer for me," she said to the many friends and relatives gathered in Nashotah, Wisconsin.
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Seidel took home the bronze in just the third marathon she ever ran. Peres Jepchirchir and Brigid Kosgei, both of Kenya, took the gold and silver, respectively.
For Seidel, a Cambridge, Mass., resident, the Olympics were always the goal. As a fourth grader, she declared, “I wish I will make it into the olympics and win a gold medal”
After winning bronze, and being asked about that childhood writing, she said: "I can't believe it, just getting here was already a dream come true."
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She said she was tired, and she thanked her relatives and coaches and friends for supporting her efforts.
"I'm so grateful to everyone who got me here, and I'm so happy," she said.
