BEIJING — Jessie Diggins didn't cry when she lay in bed with food poisoning. She admitted she had a moment of self-pity, but with her final race at the Beijing Olympics only hours away, that wasn't going to do any good.
She bit her lip Sunday, too, when her legs began cramping during the brutal 30-kilometer freestyle. And when a sharp wind buffeted her face, already numb from the 5-degree cold. And when she struggled to remember what lap she was on, as she willed her way through an 85-minute marathon.
When Diggins approached the finish, though, she felt the tears coming. The Afton native could hear dozens of people cheering her on, helping to lift her to an Olympic silver medal in one of the gutsiest races of her career.
