TRIATHLON was first seen at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and has been held at every Games since. Great Britain has taken part in all four competitions, in both the men's and women's events, but did not win their first medals until the 2012 London Games when the Brownlee brothers, Alistair and Jonathan won gold and bronze.
The best finish by a British woman is the fifth place obtained by Helen Jenkins (née Tucker) in 2012.
Britain's Gold Medallist:
BROWNLEE, Alistair Edward
Born: 23 April 1988, Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, England
Olympics competed in: 2 (2008, 2012)
Olympic medals: 2012 Gold - Men's triathlon
Alistair Brownlee and his younger brother Jonathan won two of the three men's triathlon medals at the London 2012 Olympics and some wag commented that Bramhope, the area of Leeds where the brothers were from, had a greater medal count than Mexico at the time.
The triathlon took place on a course around Hyde Park and took in the Mall and Buckingham Palace and it was estimated that a crowd of around 200,000 cheered on the brothers.
After the swim the two-time Spanish world champion Javier Gomez led with Jonathan, better known as Jonny, in third place and Alistair in fifth. Gomez slipped to sixth after the bike ride whilst Alistair was into the bronze medal position and Jonny one place behind in fourth. After a great run Alistair captured the gold from the Spaniard who pulled himself back into the silver medal place but was 11 seconds behind the Britain whilst Jonny finished third despite having to overcome a 15 second time penalty.
The medal ceremony was delayed for an hour because Johnny was being treated after collapsing at the finishing line.
The Brownlee's became the first British brothers to win medals in the same individual event since Reginald and Laurie Doherty won gold and bronze in the men's singles lawn tennis event at the 1900 Olympics.
Alistair first competed at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, being ranked 12th but the following year he won the world championship, which he regained in 2011, with his brother finishing second to him. Alistair also won back-to-back European titles in 2010-11,
He had been running and swimming competitively since the age of six and at the age of 11 he took part in his first Triathlon, in Leeds. He was introduced to the sport by his uncle Simon Hearnshaw who was a very good cross country runner and was several times the Yorkshire champion.
Alistair was awarded the MBE in the 2013 Honours list for his services to the trathlon. Top of the page
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