ATHENS, Greece — Kate Allen had the same reaction as everyone else when she crossed the finish line in the triathlon.
She couldn't believe she was first.
Closer to the rear of the pack than the front for most of the race, the Austrian passed everyone during the closing 10-kilometer run, including leader Loretta Harrop of Australia only a few strides before the finish.
"I was to hoping to run into a top 10 ," Allen said. "It wasn't until the last 200 meters that I actually saw it was possible."
Allen passed half of the field during the final leg of the swim-cycle-run endurance test, finishing in 2 hours, 4 minutes, 43.45 seconds. A weary Harrop had nothing left when Allen pulled even and then ahead.
"She was flying," said Harrop, who finished 6.72 seconds back. "I never even saw her when she came past me."
Susan Williams, the last American to qualify for the race over the summer, won the bronze despite crashing early in the cycling race.
American Sheila Taormina, the current world champion, and Harrop, the world runner-up, were in front after the 1.5-kilometer swim. They exchanged leads throughout the 40-kilometer cycling stage before Taormina faded. At the start of the run, Harrop led American Barb Lindquist by 17 seconds.
Allen was in 28th place at that point, but began gaining ground almost immediately. She made it to fifth during the first two-thirds of the run, then set out after Harrop.
When Allen crossed the finish line, she threw her arms up and put her hands on her head in disbelief.
"This was the best feeling of my career," Allen said. "I concentrated on one race in my whole career and this was it. I tapered for three weeks."
Allen was born in Australia but now lives in Innsbruck. She mostly competes in Europe and rarely sees the Australian athletes.
Williams stopped training for the Sydney Games in 2000 when she found out she was pregnant. Her daughter — whose name is Sydney — came with her this year for the competition.
Early in the cycling leg, Williams crashed but quickly got back on her feet.
"I got too close into the sideboard on the tight turn," Williams said. "I flew a little but it wasn't too bad — a few scratches and bruises, that's all."
Lindquist slowed down and Williams caught up. They formed a two-person chase group, remaining about a half-minute behind Harrop and Taormina for most of the cycling stage.
Taormina eventually dropped back with them, and it appeared for a while the Three Americans were the only ones with a chance to catch Harrop. But by the end of the race, Lindquist had dropped to ninth and Taormina finished 23rd.