Dame Flora Duffy’s future is still up in the air with Bermuda’s only Olympic champion unwilling to use the word ‘retirement’ just yet.

Duffy is acutely aware that she is coming to the end of a stellar career which featured 12 world championship wins, two Commonwealth Games gold medals and that historic moment in Tokyo five years ago.

But with injuries taking their toll for much of the past two years, you sense that while Duffy’s body may not be ready to ever compete at the highest level again, her mind is still struggling with the concept of calling it a day.

“At this point, I’m in reflection mode and wondering if my body will allow me to do the amount of training needed to race at the level that I want to compete and to win,” Duffy said in an exclusive interview with The Royal Gazette at the Hamilton Princess on Wednesday.

“it’s definitely not the easiest space for me to be in, figuring this out, but it has allowed me to come back to Bermuda and it has allowed me to have the energy to do other things and focus my brain elsewhere, which I don’t normally do because I’m consumed with training 24/7.

“I'm so unsure what to do but I’m lucky in that I can take the time needed and not make a rash decision. I have achieved everything I’ve wanted to in the sport and I’m in a good place where I’m supported to allow myself to just take a little step back.

“A lot of athletes can’t do that. If their racing has stalled, they maybe financially need to look elsewhere and think about what’s next career-wise, but luckily I can actually take the time and space, which has been really nice.”

When you have reached the top of the mountain, it must be hard to come back down. Reading between the lines, it would come as no surprise if Duffy, 38, does not make a return to the highest level of competition and that is something she seems to be comfortable with.

“As a professional athlete, I was always very aware that this chapter has an end date,” Duffy said.

“You’re reliant on your body and as your body ages, it just doesn’t recover the same way. You pick up more injuries and it seems like the younger generation is just getting faster, which is great in moving the sport forward.

“The hardest part is knowing what it feels like to be in great shape and that is what I miss. I don’t miss winning as much as the feeling of standing on a start line and knowing I can win.

“I value that more these days and that’s probably because I’ve had so many injuries and it’s been such a struggle for me. But I’ve always known the end date was fast approaching and I’m just thankful I am one of the lucky ones to have achieved everything I wanted and more. I think that allows me to be at peace with it all.”

Being out of the high-intensity routine has allowed Duffy to become Auntie Flora to her nephews and nieces on a more regular basis, with the sacrifice to family life that an elite athlete must make no longer applying to her.

“My husband Dan [Hugo] raced triathlon at a very high level, so he totally understood the lifestyle and what was needed to compete and be one of the best in the world,” she said.

“He’s also someone that truly believes in me and it is really great and really powerful to have someone like that by your side, but now we are in a different phase, Dan says it’s time for us to go on adventures.

“He does have a full-time job in South Africa that keeps him quite busy but we now have more time and energy to go on adventures at the weekends and spend more time with our nieces and nephews.

“In these past few months while we were in South Africa and I was training less, I think I went to three kids mountain bike races on one Saturday, which I would absolutely not do in the years I was competing.

“So that's really fun and I can see how much it means to them for me to be there. They’re 7, 9 and 11, they love racing their mountain bikes and their faces beam when Dan and I show up, so it’s very meaningful to be there for that.”

With her time at the top coming to an end, Duffy is already thinking about her future and is hoping to expand the Flora Fund, which was formed in 2018 and has raised more than $100,000 for young athletes hoping to follow in her footsteps.

“It’s really wonderful and very fulfilling to be able to do that,” Duffy said. “The Flora Fund is something I hope to build out more when I am eventually able to say the ‘R’ word.

“That’s something I’m very passionate about and I want to build it to a sustainable level, where I can continue giving back to the community of Bermuda and to the local athletes.

“Sport has given me so much, opened so many doors and allowed me to travel the world, meet people and helped to develop me into the person that I am today. The Flora Fund is very important to me and I would love to help as many local athletes as I can to pursue their dreams.”

But despite travelling around the world and with houses in Colorado and South Africa, Flora’s heart belongs to Bermuda and her eyes light up almost as much as when she talks about her Olympic gold medal as she speaks about spending this week at home.

“I don’t get to go back to Bermuda too often throughout the year, so it’s always great when I’m back and the sun is shining,” she said.

“This time I don’t have too much on my schedule, no training to worry about and I get to spend time with friends and family. This place is just absolutely gorgeous and it’s great to see it through my husband's eyes, who didn’t grow up here.

“We went for a swim at Admiralty House on Saturday and it was just the most beautiful day. He took a video of me swimming and I posted it on my Instagram. Looking at that clip, it was just unbelievable how pretty it was and that was just a regular Saturday in Bermuda. This place is just magical.”