BROWNSBURG, Ind. — Pull out any home movie of Chloé Dygert and you'll find out she was born to compete.
"Anything competition, doesn't matter where it is or where it's at or how tired I am, I have to do it and I have to win," Dygert said. "The work ethic I have comes from the drive I have to compete and win."
13News sports director Dave Calabro caught up with the Brownsburg High School graduate at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado. It's where she spent hours and hours of intense training, getting ready for her Olympic journey.
From a young age, Dygert loved sports and just wanted to be a part of it all.
"Anything... watching my brother play sports, my dad never let me play football, but I would be on the sidelines running around and hoping one day they would let me play," she said. "But all the sports I played with my male relatives and boy sports growing up just made me who I was."
Dygert won seven gold medals at the world championships and a silver medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
But last year, her journey took an unexpected turn. Dygert crashed at the world championships, severely injuring her left leg. She needed surgery, putting her Olympic dream on hold.
But her need for competition paid off.
Dygert challenged herself to get back on track, and now she wants to do better than her silver medal performance in Rio.
"Our goal was gold, and that will always be our goal, and that's what we are going (for) into Tokyo," she said. "The drive to come back even harder, it's there, and we will work just as hard or harder than we did last time. We have all the resources to do it. It's just... make sure we can get there and be there healthy. We can do it."
If anyone can do it, Dygert can. She has her hometown cheering her on.
"It's so special. All my classmates, my family and friends. I am still on the group chats on Facebook, so to get on there and see all the comments, I see everyone's comments, so nice to still have that support and the love they bring," Dygert said. "It makes me so happy to represent such a great town, and Brownsburg will forever be my home, and I do plan on coming back after I retire."
But there's no time to slow down just yet. There are more medals for Dygert to win.
After all, it's competition.
WATCH: Women's Track Team Pursuit
Dygert and Team USA lost to Great Britain in the first round Tuesday morning by less than 1 second, which meant they could not win the gold medal.
Team USA's time of 4:07.562 in the first round was fast enough to earn them a place in the bronze medal race against Canada, whom they defeated by more than 1 second with a time of 4:08.040 to place third.
Dygert placed 31st in the women's road race on July 25. She raced again on July 27, taking seventh place in the final of the women's individual time trial.
