Triathlon at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Men's

Qualification

Qualification for the race was restricted to three athletes per National Olympic Committee (NOC), an organisation representing a country at the Olympics, until eight NOCs had three qualified athletes. Once eight NOCs had qualified three athletes; a NOC was limited to two entries. A NOC with an athlete who won one of the five continental championships (Africa, Asia, Pan America, Europe and Oceania) were given one place in the event. Additionally, three places were available for the NOC of the medallists at the International Triathlon Union (ITU) World Qualification Event. Another 38 places were available to the NOCs with the highest ranked athletes on the ITU Olympic Qualification List on 31 May 2012. If an athlete had already qualified through another method the NOC did not receive another quota with it instead going to the next NOC on the ITU Olympic Qualification List. Five more entries into the event were given to one NOC per continental region. This was based on the ITU Olympic Qualification List with the highest ranked athlete from a non-qualified NOC in their continental region qualifying a place for their NOC in the event. One was given to the Great Britain NOC as the hosts but as they had already gained a place, the host place was given to the highest eligible athlete on the ITU Olympic Qualification List's NOC. The final two places for the event was given to two NOCs chosen by the Tripartite Commission.

For all qualification places the qualified NOC had the right to select any athlete who, by 31 May 2012, were in the top 140 of the ITU Olympic Qualification List, in the top 140 of the 2012 ITU World Triathlon Series or in the top 140 of the ITU Points List.

Preview

Alistair Brownlee and Jonathan Brownlee were considered strong favourites before the race. The 2000 men's Olympic triathlon champion, Canadian Simon Whitfield, said that, "If you run this Olympic race ten times, one of the Brownlee brothers will win nine out of ten times. But they won’t win it that 10th time, and you try to be that person to be there to capitalise on it that 10th time.” Among other contenders were Javier Gómez of Spain, who was the ITU Triathlon World Champion in both the 2008 World Championships and the 2010 World Championships; New Zealander Bevan Docherty; Whitfield of Canada and the 2008 Olympic champion Jan Frodeno from Germany.

Course

The event was contested in Hyde Park in Central London, a park opened in 1637. The 1.5-kilometre (0.93 mi) swim started on the north side of The Serpentine and the course was just one lap. One of the female competitors, Laura Bennett, said that the swim was the hardest part of the course after competing in the London leg of the 2011 ITU World Championship Series on the Olympic course: “The swim was the most difficult, it was hard to get away from everyone.” After the swim there was then a 200 metres (220 yd) transition zone in front of the main grandstand. The competitors then started a 43-kilometre (27 mi) bike leg consisting of seven 6.137-kilometre (3.813 mi) laps. The cyclists first rode down Serpentine Road towards West Carriage Drive before changing direction and cycling to Hyde Park Corner. The course then quickly turned left towards Hyde Park to go past Buckingham Palace on Constitution Hill. Once passing Buckingham Palace, the cyclist turned and went back towards Hyde Park and eventually crossing through the transition area before starting the next lap. The final discipline was the run. It was four-laps of a 2.5-kilometre (1.6 mi) loop around The Serpentine on flat ground.

The course was designed to be as spectator-friendly as possible. The athletes passed through the main grandstand area 12 times. The men's triathlon was one of the few events with free viewing points.

Race

The race started at 11:30 a.m. on 7 August 2012. Richard Varga led early in the swim and held the lead to come out of the water first. His swim leg split time was 16 minutes and 56 seconds, four seconds faster than Javier Gómez and those two; along with both of the Brownlees, Ivan Vasiliev and Alessandro Fabian; formed a lead group of six that had an 11 second gap over the rest of the field. At the transition between the running and cycling legs, Jonathan Brownlee was given a 15 second penalty for riding his bike before the transition zone. On the ride the race reformed with a 22-man strong group together for the majority of the discipline. Alistair Brownlee started to run away from the rest of the field at the start of the running leg with only his brother and Gómez attempting to follow him. Jonathan Brownlee was dropped from the group at approximately halfway through the run and then Alistair Brownlee dropped Gómez with 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) to go. Alistair Brownlee would go on to win the race in a time of one hour, 46 minutes and 25 seconds, beating Gómez by 11 seconds. Despite having to serve his time penalty at the end of the second-last running lap, Jonathan Brownlee held on to the bronze medal position, 20 seconds behind Gómez and 18 seconds in front of fourth-placed David Hauss of France.

Almost immediately after the race Jonathan Brownlee collapsed due to heat stroke. He was taken to the Olympic medical tent where it was confirmed he would suffer no permanent damage.

Alistair Brownlee criticised the penalty that he thought cost his brother the silver medal: "I've never been a fan of these penalties, I think they're ruining the sport." Alistair also called the rules "disgusting" and accused triathlon organisers of "ruining" the sport.

Results