LONDON — Sarah Groff won't bring an Olympic medal back to Cooperstown when she plans to visit her hometown this fall. She aims to share something less tangible but perhaps more meaningful instead.

"I come from a town of 2,000 people where you're not supposed to go to the Olympics and contend for an Olympic medal," Groff said. "Hopefully I can talk to kids in the area."

She'll have quite a story to tell about her first Olympic experience.

Groff, 30, grew up a long toss from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and used to play pranks on out-of-towners asking for directions. She leaned on that jocular attitude after a physically grueling and emotional morning at Hyde Park, where she finished fourth in the Olympic triathlon.

"You're getting me at the right time," Groff said about 15 minutes after finishing. "I was like all tears over there. I gradually got my mood good-to-go, psyched up to be at the Olympics right now. But back there about five minutes ago, I was a blubbering mess."

Groff was in eighth place after 1.5 kilometers of swimming and seventh place following 40 kilometers on the bike when she ran over another triathlete who had crashed right in front of her.

"I hope someone out there has the YouTube (video)," Groff said. "There was nothing else I could have done. Either I go and crash myself, or I ride over this poor girl, who's lying in the road. Right over her torso. I was like, 'Did anybody see that?' ... It's really sad because she crashed, and I feel bad for her and I rode over her, but it was kind of epic."

She entered the final 10-kilometer run in the leading group of 22, which was whittled down to four when Groff dropped about 10 seconds back a few kilometers in.

She regained touch with the leaders to make it five women fighting for three medals on the final 2.5-kilometer lap before falling back in the final 1,000 meters to finish in 2 hours even, 10 seconds out of bronze. Nicola Spirig of Switzerland stole gold from Swede Lisa Norden in a photo finish. Australian Erin Densham was third. The other Americans, Laura Bennett and Gwen Jorgensen, were 17th and 38th in the field of 55.

The U.S. remained stuck on one medal in Olympic triathlon's short history, a women's bronze in 2004 after the sport debuted in 2000.

Groff was cheered on by what she called "Team Groff," a collection of supporters from New York and New Hampshire, where she resides when not training in Europe.