Beijing Olympic Games

Updated: 2008-08-18 01:15:46

(BEIJING, August 17) — Vanessa Fernandes of Portugal and Emma Snowsill of Australia deserve to be favorites for tomorrow’s Women’s Triathlon race. The two placed first and second in the Good Luck Beijing event last September. But there are other athletes who could very well steal the show.

At last year’s Olympic test event, the women who placed behind them from third to ninth: Laura Bennett of the United States, Debbie Tanner of New Zealand, Anja Dittmer of Germany, Samantha Warriner of New Zealand, Nicola Spirig of Switzerland, Emma Moffatt of Australia and Elizabeth May of Luxembourg, all have the ability to cause an upset.

At the 2006 Beijing test event, Fernandes and Snowsill took out the race with May in third. And at the 2005 Beijing test event Fernandes won with Sheila Taormina of the United States second and current world champion Helen Tucker of Great Britain third. Interestingly enough, Taormina has become the first woman to compete at the Olympics in three different sports: swimming in 1996, triathlon in 2000 and 2004 and modern pentathlon in 2008.

The three elite world champions in the field: Tucker – 2008, Fernandes – 2007, and Snowsill – 2006, 2005, 2003, will use this race experience to their advantage in Beijing.

As will past Under 23 world champions: Daniela Ryf of Switzerland – 2008, Lisa Norden of Sweden – 2007, Erin Densham Australia – 2006, Andrea Hewitt New Zealand – 2005. And Junior world champions: Avil – 2007, Spirig – 2001.

If past Olympic experience counts, then three-time Olympians: Dittmer – 18th Sydney, 11th Athens, Kiyomi Niwata of Japan – 14th Sydney, 14th Athens, Mariana Ohata of Brazil – DNF Sydney, 37th Athens, will add their names to the list of women in the contention for a Beijing medal. So too will the 15 two-time Olympians in the field.

But the field will be largely made up of new Olympians, 37 first-timers to be exact. These athletes, like: Ai Udea of Japan, Emma Moffatt of Australia, Yuliya Sapunova of Ukraine, Irina Abyssova of Russia and Emma Davis of Ireland, will make up for lack of experience with their youthful drive to become Olympic medalists.

And they could learn a thing or two from Allen’s gold medal performance in Athens. Behind at the end of the bike by 2 minutes 48 seconds she ran through 27 women on her way to her Olympic victory.

Magali Di Marco of Switzerland, who took bronze in Sydney, could also be a model for aspiring medalists. She is back at her second Games having become a mother in the meantime. Di Marco will be 36 years of age at Beijing.

This contrasts starkly with Hollie Avil of Great Britain who will be 18 years, 4 months, and 6 days old on the day of the women’s competition. And Avil is not the type of athlete who will give up ground to older athletes.

Then there is Ana Burgos of Spain who will be 40 years, 7 months, 23 days on the day of women’s competition. Burgos could be the mother of many of the women racing in this event.

Updated: 2008-07-28

(BEIJING, July 28) — The world’s under-23 world champion in 2007, Sweden’s Lisa Norden keeps on improving as an athlete. She produced a fistful of breakthrough results in early 2008, which included three podium results: 2nd at the New Plymouth World Cup, 3rd at the Lisbon European Championships and 3rd at the Mooloolaba World Cup.

Norden is currently training under Darren Smith. If her swimming is up to scratch, then she will be an Olympic medal contender.

Norden wrote on her blog: “Finally it’s all 100 per cent - I’ll be on the starting line at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.”

Norden recently took some time off to return to Sweden. Her last batch of training before the Olympics will be held in the Pyrenees.

Updated: 2008-07-27

As the Olympic Games approach, triathletes from all over the world are busy preparing for their Beijing appearance.

One such athlete, Mari Rabie, 21, was the first African to stand atop the podium at the world championships this year after taking the bronze in the under-23 category. Her best three results for 2008 up to now include third place in the Vancouver U23 World Championships, 20th place in the New Plymouth World Cup and 26th place in the Mooloolaba World Cup.

Racing in the Olympic Games has been a lifelong dream for the South African, as indicated by an entry in her internet blog. “Another memory is of a 13-year-old me sitting on our living room floor, at 2 a.m. during the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. It was the first time triathlon would feature in the Olympics and there was no chance in the world I would miss it, even though I had swim training the next morning at 5:15 a.m. I remember the streets of Sydney looking absolutely packed. I kept on asking my mum during the men’s swim, ‘Where is Conrad? Where is Conrad?’ [Conrad Stoltz, first South African man to race an Olympics]. A tough question to answer during a wetsuit swim.

“My question was soon answered on the bike though. Conrad and Oliver Marceau had a successful breakaway on the bike, IN THE OLYMPICS! My parents had invited most of the local triathlon crowd over and Conrad’s break caused so much excitement in our house that we woke up my poor sister who was writing her final High School exams during that time. I remember thinking, ‘One day I would like to be able to do that…’”

Young Rabie will surely gain experience in Beijing and just get better heading into London for the 2012 Games.

Updated: 2008-07-22

(BEIJING, July 22) — A draw conducted by Olympic technical delegates and a Beijing race referee has set the start numbers and transition area positions for the men’s and women’s triathlon at Beijing 2008. The draw took place in Kitzbühel, Austria, where the final world cup before Beijing 2008 finished last weekend.

A total of 110 triathletes will participate in the triathlon at Beijing 2008. The pontoon draw for the swim leg has yet to be conducted because it relates to the ITU rankings, which have not been finalized.

The men’s and women’s draws were done separately. Athletes from the same nation will be next to each other in the transition area. Since no one was allotted the unlucky number 13, number 56 will the final start number (there will a total of 55 triathletes in both the men’s and women’s draws).

The 2008 Olympic women’s triathlon race is scheduled for August 18, while the men’s will be staged on the following day.

The race starting numbers and transition area positions of the 110 Olympic triathletes are available on the ITU’s official website. (Click herefor the men’s Olympic start list, and click herefor the women’s)

Updated: 2008-07-21

(BEIJING, July 20) — Switzerland’s Nicola Spirig finished with a time of 1:57:28 in the elite women’s event and Spaniard Ivan Rana finished with a time of 1:45:23 in the elite men’s event to top the last triathlon world cup before Beijing 2008. The world cup was held in Kitzbühel, Austria.

In the women’s 10 km run, Spirig came from behind in the final 200 m to overtake France’s Carole Peon and pocket her second world cup title. Sam Warriner of New Zealand finished third for the 12th world cup medal of her career.

The World No. 1, Australia’s Felicity Abram, failed to make it to the second lap of the 1.5 km swim, as completing two straight world cups over the two previous weeks had left her exhausted.

Standings of the women’s race:

Gold – Nicola Spirig (SUI) 1:57:28

Silver – Carole Peon (FRA) 1:57:35

Bronze – Samantha Warriner (NZL) 1:58:04

4th – Andrea Hewitt (NZL) 1:58:12.16

5th – Elizabeth May (LUX) 1:58:12.77

6th – Christiane Pilz (GER) 1:58:31

7th – Magali Di marco (SUI) 1:58 37

8th – Ainhoa Murua (ESP) 1:58:54

9th – Andrea Whitcombe (GBR) 1:58:57

10th – Debbie Tanner (NZL) 1:59:01

In the men’s race, Ivan Rana finished first, showing that he is ready to take home an Olympic medal for Spain in August. He outdid compatriot Javier Gomez, who was a favorite going into the race, but did not make it into the top ten.

New Zealand’s Kris Gemmell took silver with a final sprint to finish ahead of Swiss Sven Riederer, who finished third.

Rana was part of a 14-man pack leading the 40 km bike race, along with Bevan Docherty of New Zealand, Alexander Brukhankov of Russia and Jonathan Brownlee of Great Britain. In the running race, Rana had a 20-second lead after five kilometers, which sealed his first world-cup victory since 2003.

Standings of the men’s race:

Gold - Ivan Rana (ESP) 1:45:23

Silver - Kris Gemmell (NZL) 1:45:29

Bronze - Sven Riederer (SUI) 1:45:30

4th - Bevan Docherty (NZL) 1:45:31

5th - Ivan Vasiliev (RUS) 1:45:31

6th - Laurent Vidal (FRA) 1:45:43

7th - Tony Moulai (FRA) 1:45:54

8th - Filip Ospaly (CZE) 1:45:56

9th - Alexander Brukhankov (RUS) 1:45:59

10th - Maik Petzold (GER) 1:46:20

Updated:2008-07-15

(BEIJING, July 15) — The last pre-Olympic triathlon world cup will be staged in Kitzbühel, Austria this Sunday.

The elite women’s race is scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m., with at least 18 Beijing-bound women triathletes to participate. Among them will be Andrea Whitcombe, who finished first in Tiszaujvaros last weekend. Whitcombe will be pursuing her fifth world cup medal this year.

New Zealander Andrea Hewitt, reigning champion of last year’s Kitzbühel World Cup, together with her countrywomen Debbie Tanner and Samantha Warriner, will look to retain the Kitzbühel title.

Switzerland will bring a balanced attack in the women’s race with its entire female Olympic squad of Nicola Spirig, Magali Di marco and Daniela Ryf.

Swede Lisa Norden has already been on the world cup podium twice this year. She wants to make it three before her first Olympics.

The elite men’s race features a brand new set of participants as all medalists from last year will not attend this year.

Gold contenders include Kiwi Bevan Docherty, who captured silver at the world championships, in addition to podium finishes in Tongyeong and Des Moines. Docherty will be joined by compatriots Kris Gemmell and Shane Reed to give New Zealand a strong lineup.

Switzerland will also be well represented with Sven Riederer, Olivier Marceau and Reto Hug, bronze medalist from this year’s world championships. Riederer was bronze medallist at Athens 2004.

Other notables in this year’s Kitzbühel field include Russian Olympians Alexander Brukhankov, Dmitry Polyansky and Igor Sysoev, Ivan Rana of Spain (2002 world champion), Czech Filip Ospaly, Ukrainian veteran Volodymyr Polikarpenko and Dmitriy Gaag of Kazakhstan, who will seek their best performances en route to Beijing.

Updated: 2008-07-14

(BEIJING, July 14) — With the temperature skyrocketing to 37 degrees Celsius on Sunday, Tiszaujvaros is hot. Thousands of spectators braved the midday sun to cheer the competition on in the 12th Triathlon World Cup to be held in the Hungarian town.

Olympic favorite Javier Gomez of Spain came first with a time of 1 hour 51 minutes and 32 seconds and showed the spectators that he is still the man to beat in Beijing.

Coming back from injury to show he is still on track for the Olympics was Aussie Brad Kahlefeldt who finished second, 19 seconds behind Gomez. This was the third consecutive time that Kahlefeldt has finished second, each time to Gomez.

Dmitriy Gaag of Kazakhstan finished in third place with a time of 1:52:08.

“It is the most similar race to Beijing. Heat, humidity and a non-wetsuit swim,” the International Triathlon Union website quotes Gomez as commenting on the sweltering conditions, “I’ve won all the world cup races [I’ve entered] this year. I think it is the best way to go into the Games.”