The Warwick Academy student who dreamed big and now inspires those following in her footsteps
In her graduate year at Warwick Academy, Flora Duffy said as her yearbook quote: “Dream as if you’ll live for ever, live as if you’ll die tomorrow.”
On Monday night, Warwick Academy revelled in the joy of her Olympic victory after Ms Duffy did just that.
Mark Thorne, her former teacher and the head of physical education at the school, said he was glued to the television for the event.
He said: “We were crying tears of joy watching it. I couldn’t have been more proud of her.
“If we were in school, there is no doubt that there would have been screaming and clapping. We would have stopped class to watch it.
“It was a huge crescendo for a wonderful career, and we will see where she goes from here.”
A spokeswoman for the school said: “Warwick Academy is beyond thrilled for alumna Flora Duffy on her remarkable achievement.
“She has trained for this moment since she was eight years old and has worked so incredibly hard and sacrificed so much. She is the epitome of resilience and incredibly humble as well.
“Our students should be inspired and motivated that Flora walked the same halls that they do and sat in their same classrooms. You can come from a small island like Bermuda, from our schools and achieve a Gold medal.
The spokeswoman added that the school motto was ‘quo non ascedam’, which translates to ‘to what heights may I not ascend?’
“Well, Flora reached the top,” she said.
Dave Horan, principal at the school, said it was hugely advantageous for students at Warwick academy to have a role model such as Flora.
“From a school perspective we couldn’t be prouder – it is an amazing achievement,” he said.
“We will have to commemorate this in some way at the school. I would like to think the school and the students but also Bermuda to see that it is quite remarkable for such a small island to win a gold at the Olympics.
“What is amazing is she has had some ups and downs and she hasn’t given up and it shows that when you stick at something there is success at the end of the road a massively important message.”
The school previously honoured Ms Duffy in 2017, naming its pool in her honour for her victories in the ITU World Triathlon Series and the Xterra Triathlon series.
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