UPDATE: An American champion is home.
Olympic gold medalist Connor Fields came back from Rio Tuesday morning and got a surprise at airport baggage claim.
"I expected my mom and my dad and my close friends to be here but nothing like this," Fields said.
Dozens of fans and supporters waited for the Henderson man and as he walked up, chants of "USA! USA! USA!" broke out.
After the initial hugs and high fives, Fields took out what everyone wanted to see most -- the gold medal.
"I still look down and it hasn't really sunk in yet," he said. "It's starting to a little bit but it's so crazy just to look down and see it. I can't believe it."
Lisa Fields, Connor's mother, says she's still pinching herself.
Several children were at the homecoming celebration.
Fields has proven to be very generous with his time, training often with the next generation of BMX racers.
"Everybody loves to ride with him," said Cole Floyd, who's worked with Fields at clinics. "He makes it really fun."
Fields says it's important to him to give back to the community.
"I was one of those kids once and I remembered that I looked up to the pros and I wanted to be like them, so I just try to remember that as I've gotten older," he said.
Next up is preparing for the 2017 world championships.
But first, Fields will take a month off and probably answer a lot more questions about Rio.
"It's a tough thing down there," he said. "You get lonely, you get homesick and there's a lot of pressure but I truly felt the support, so thanks to everyone from the valley for the support."
Talk about a gracious gold medalist. @cfields has been taking pictures and signing autographs for half an hour pic.twitter.com/ovqLX3wUhQ
— David Schuman (@david_schuman) August 23, 2016
ORIGINAL STORY:
In an exclusive interview with 13 Action News, the family of an Olympic gold medalist from Henderson says the 23-year-old almost didn't even make it to Rio.
Connor Fields won a gold medal in BMX racing Friday.
It was surreal for his mother, Lisa Fields, and his girlfriend, Laura Gruninger, to watch his dreams come true.
Just a few months ago, Fields' spot on the Olympic team was in question when he broke his wrist.
"He would be really down and he would kind of wonder, 'Is this it for me? Am I going to retire?'" Gruninger said.
Then Lisa Fields decided to step in.
"Lisa is great at motivating him and knowing just what to say at the right time," Gruninger said.
Lisa Fields has been on this journey with her son since he started riding at the age of 7 when he decided to try for the Olympics, and when he finished a disappointing 7th place at the 2012 Games in London.
So when he broke his wrist, Fields wrote her son an email.
"I basically was trying to remind him of how capable he was, how hard he worked and how he couldn't give up prematurely because I know him well enough that he never would've forgiven himself," Lisa Fields said.
She also made sure to include the lyrics to the song that's pumped him up for years -- "Lose Yourself" by Eminem.
Now the trophy room in Fields' Henderson home has a new shiny object to add, and his family has the DVR recording of the most exhilarating 34 seconds of their lives.
