At least he won...

Norwegian triathlete pukes after winning Olympic gold medal, taken away in wheelchair

Gabe Fernandez

Pure exhaustion caused Norwegian Olympic triathlete Kristian Blummenfelt to take the idea of "leaving it all out there" to a whole new level after his gold medal-winning performance in Tokyo on Monday.

The first place finisher got down to his hands and knees after the final stage of the competition, the 10-kilometer run, and promptly vomited as a result of the heat combined with exhaustion.

Soon after puking, Blummenfelt had to be helped up to his feet and was later escorted away in a wheelchair. The good news is that his ailments didn't stop him from being able to get up for the medal ceremony.

While the physical exertion required to finish a triathlon — much less win one — in the kind of weather the Norwegian had to would put anyone in a similar post-race position, the image of the 27-year-old celebrating on the ground was symbolic of the effort he put in during the last stage of the competition. He was able to overtake longtime leader Alex Yee and beat him out by 11 seconds.

Still, Blummenfelt seemed to brush off the elements that were affecting him and his fellow competitors during his post-race interview.

"Our team is world-leading for heat preparation so we were a bit disappointed it was not as warm as we were hoping for," he said, according to Reuters.

This was Norway's first Olympic gold medal in this sport.