INTERNATIONAL TRIATHLON UNION MEDIA GUIDE LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC GAMES 2 2012 ITU OLYMPIC MEDIA GUIDE ITU ONLINE MEDIA CENTRE | MEDIA.triatHlon.ORG ITU’s Online Media Centre has been produced to provide a portal for media to quickly gather all relevant information about ITU, its events and athletes. Media Centre services include: • Latest ITU news and press releases • Up-to-date results, rankings and race statistics • Comprehensive athlete profile database • Rights-free high-resolution photos from all major events • Full audio from athlete interviews • Access to broadcast quality race video highlights For more information, or to register for a Media Centre account, visit media.triathlon.org ITU MEDIA CONTACTS Paula Kim Morgan Inglis Senior Manager, Communications Senior Producer, TV & Broadcast International Triathlon Union (ITU) International Triathlon Union (ITU) [email protected] [email protected] Office: +1 604 904 9248 Office: +1 604 904 9248 Mobile: +1 604 780 3546 Mobile: +1 604 250 4091 UK mobile during Games: 074235 16698 UK mobile during Games: 074235 16685 EDITOR: PAULA KIM ITU HEADQUARTERS ART DIRECTOR: MORGAN INGLIS #221-998 HARBOURSIDE DRIVE, WRITER & RESEARCHER: MERRYN SHERWOOD NOrth VANCOUVER, BC, CANADA, V7M 1H6 PHOTOGRAPHY: DELLY CARR, JANOS SCHMIDT, ITU, IOC AND LOCOG TEL: +1 604 904 9248 ALL CONTENT COPYRIGHT 2012 INTERNATIONAL TRIATHLON UNION [email protected] 2012 ITU OLYMPIC MEDIA GUIDE 3 CONTENTS ITU & TRIATHLON HISTORY ............................................................ 4 NEW FOR LONDON 2012 ............................................................... 5 ITU WORLD TRIATHLON SERIES ....................................................... 5 OLYMPIC QUALIFICATION SUMMARY .............................................. 6 TRIATHLON LIVE SITES PAGE ........................................................... 7 SCHEDULE AND HYDE PARK VENUE ................................................. 8 VENUE MAP ................................................................................. 9 WOMEN’S LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC TRIATHLON FIELD ......................10 WOMEN’S PROFILES ............................................................... 11-29 FINAL WOMEN’S OLYMPIC QUALIFICATION RANKINGS �������������������� 29 MEN’S LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC TRIATHLON FIELD .......................... 30 MEN’S PROFILES ................................................................... 31-49 FINAL MEN’S OLYMPIC QUALIFICATION RANKINGS ������������������������� 49 2012 ITU SEASON TO DATE ........................................................... 50 LONDON 2011 REVIEW ................................................................ 52 SYDNEY 2000 REVEW ................................................................. 54 ATHENS 2004 REVIEW ................................................................. 56 BEIJING 2008 REVIEW ................................................................. 58 LOOKING AHEAD ......................................................................... 60 ITU WORLD CHAMPIONS ............................................................. 62 ITU RECORDS .............................................................................. 63 4 2012 ITU OLYMPIC MEDIA GUIDE ITU & TRIATHLON HISTORY A YOUNG, DYNAMIC SPOrt’S RAPID RISE TO THE OLYMPIC STAGE The first recorded triathlon took place in San Diego, California on 25 September 1974. It was organised by the San Diego Track & Field Club as an alternative to the rigors of training on the track. The race, which took place in San Diego’s Mission Bay, consisted of a 5.3-mile run, followed by a 5-mile bike and a 600-yard swim in the bay. A total of 46 athletes finished that first race. The International Triathlon Union (ITU) was founded in 1989 as the world governing body for triathlon and has been head- quartered in Vancouver, Canada ever since. A total of 30 National Federations attended the first ITU Congress in Avignon, France in 1989. Today there are over 140 affiliated National Federations. The ITU Triathlon World Cup Series began in 1991, staging 11 races in eight countries. The ITU World Triathlon Series was created as ITU’s top tier race series in 2009, staging multiple rounds in iconic cities across the globe. Triathlon was awarded full Olympic Games medal status by the IOC at its Congress in Paris in 1994, and made its debut in the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. TRIATHLON’S OLYMPIC HISTORY Triathlon grew rapidly from its humble beginnings in San Diego and within a matter of years it became one of the fastest growing sports around the world. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) was intrigued by the sport’s meteoric growth and in 1988 began discussions to include triathlon in the Olympic Games programme. Then IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch arranged a meeting in Stockholm that year with the intention of including triathlon in the Olympic Games as soon as possible. At that meeting, Canadian Les McDonald was selected as President to a working committee for triathlon, while Sweden’s Sture Jonasson was elected as Secretary. Triathlon was officially added to the Olympic programme by the IOC at its Congress in Paris in 1994. Triathlon made its official Olympic Games debut in Sydney, where Simon Whitfield and Brigitte McMahon stamped their names into the history books as the first gold medallists. In Athens, it was Hamish Carter and Kate Allen’s golden turn before Emma Snowsill and Jan Frodeno won the gold in Beijing. Overall, Australia is on top of the Olympic medal tally with a total of four. As well as Snowsill’s gold, Australian women have collected two silver medals and one bronze. New Zealand and Switzerland have three medals each, each with one gold, then Canada and Germany have two medals. Both of Canada’s medals belong to Whitfield. Austria, the Czech Republic and the USA currently have one medal each. A total of 13 athletes competed in each of the three editions in triathlon at the Olympics before London. In the men’s, Whitfield, Ivan Rana (ESP), Hunter Kemper (USA), Reto Hug (SUI), Tim Don (GBR), Andriy Gluschenko (UKR), Csaba Kuttor (HUN), Olivier Marceau (SUI), Juraci Moreira (BRA), Volodymyr Polikarpenko (UKR) and Filip Ospaly (CZE) all competed in Sydney, Athens and Beijing. In the women’s field, there were just two – Japan’s Kiyomi Niwata and Germany’s Anja Dittmer. In London, less than a handful of those athletes will join the revered four consecutive Olympic Games club: Whitfield, Kemper and Dittmer. 2012 ITU OLYMPIC MEDIA GUIDE 5 NEW FOR LONDON 2012 Penalty Box - The major rule change from Beijing to the London Olympic Games is the introduction of a penalty box. Time penalties may be given during the race for minor infringements such as equipment outside the designated box in transition, or early or late dismount from the bike. Before, athletes were shown a red card in transition and had to stop on the spot for the appropriate time, now time penalties incurred during the race must be served in a designated box on course. For a full list of infringements, see the ITU Rules at www.triathlon.org/about/downloads/category/competition_rules/ ITU WORLD TRIATHLON SERIES The ITU World Triathlon Series (WTS) was introduced in 2009, creating a series of world championship races rather than a single-day world championship. The series sees the world’s top triathletes competing head-to-head for rankings points that determine the overall ITU world champion, with media and fans able to watch from everywhere with a live international broadcast feed available from every event. The series has so far been staged in 14 of the world’s most amazing cities includ- ing Beijing, Budapest, Gold Coast, Hamburg, Kitzbühel, Lausanne, London, Madrid, San Diego, Seoul, Sydney, Tongyeong, Washington, Yokohama. This year the series travels to Stockholm and Auckland for the first time. A total of $2.06-million USD will be available for elite athletes racing the 2012 ITU World Triathlon Series, the first time the prize pool has topped two million since the series started. 6 2012 ITU OLYMPIC MEDIA GUIDE Qualification SUMMARY THE JOURNEY TO THE OLYMPIC GAMES There are a total of 110 spots in the triathlon events at the London 2012 Olympics: 55 men and 55 women. ITU’s interna- tional triathlon circuit, which includes the ITU World Triathlon Series (WTS), World Cups and Continental Championships, is where athletes competed for Olympic qualification. The qualification took place over a two-year period, from 1 June 2010 until 31 May 2012. Athletes collected ITU Olympic qualification points to secure a place for their country on the start line. With a total of 55 places in the men’s and women’s races, a maximum of eight National Olympic Committees (NOCs) could qualify three places. Other NOCs can qualify a maximum of two. The next step is for athletes to qualify for their country’s Olympic team based on the criteria set by their National Federations. The majority of Olympic slots are decided through the ITU Olympic qualification points list. National Federations can also gain spots if one of their athletes wins a Continental Championship, through the qualification and test event in London 2011, and through New Flag slots – in which the ITU awards berths to one country per continent, that would otherwise not have a slot. In all, a record number of 39 NOCs had qualified spots at the triathlon competition for London 2012, the highest number ever for triathlon at an Olympic Games. In Beijing 2008, there were 36 NOCs that had qualified positions. Prior to that, there