Triathlon at the Olympics

Triathlon at the Olympic Games
Olympic champion
year	Men	Women
2000	Simon Whitfield	Brigitte McMahon
2004	Hamish Carter	Kate Allen
2008	Jan Frodeno	Emma Snowsill
2012	Alistair Brownlee	Nicola Spirig
2016	Alistair Brownlee	Gwen Jorgensen

Triathlon has been part of a decision by the IOC in September 1994 in Paris on the program of the Olympic Games , at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney Olympic medals were first awarded to triathletes.

prehistory

During a routine trip to Sweden in April 1988, IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch discussed with the Swedish Brigadier General Sven Thofelt , then President of the Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne et Biathlon (UIPMB), the possibility of triathlon as a demonstration sport in the program of the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. The modern pentathlon was criticized, organizational effort and public interest were in no relation to each other. Samaranch suggested adding triathlon to the UIPMB - until then without an international umbrella organization - but expected that three more successful world championships would be held before the 1992 Games.

In August 1988 the UIPMB met with several national triathlon associations in Stockholm , whose attempts to found an international umbrella association had failed in previous years due to differences between European and North American representatives. There were further meetings in October in Cairo and in November in Montecatini . On March 31, 1989 in Avignon , a decision was to be made at another meeting in the Great Hall of the Palais des Papes . At the urging of the German representative, DTU President Martin Engelhardt , who appeared to be the greatest supporter of joining the UIPMB, the agenda was changed and a vote on joining was put at the beginning of the meeting. When Igor Alexandrowitsch Novikow , who had just replaced Sven Thofelt as President of the UIPMB, made it clear that the UIPMB would reject the statutes previously drawn up by the triathlon representatives, the mood changed. The UIPMB wanted to integrate triathlon as a competition in the Olympic Games, with swimming competitions on one day, a cycling race on the second and a run on the third. The triathlon representatives then voted for their own way without the UIPMB and founded the International Triathlon Union (ITU) on April 1, 1989 . On the same day, 1.5 km swimming, 40 km cycling and 10 km running were set as the “Olympic distance”. Although the events of goods with the greatest media attention at the time IMG organized Triathlon Longue Distance de Nice and the Ironman Hawaii ; their distances appeared to be unsuitable for the Olympic Games in terms of both organization and duration of the competition. In August 1989, the first world championships were also held in Avignon.

Nevertheless, the ITU was able to be admitted to the IOC in June 1991, and at a congress on September 4, 1994 in Paris, the IOC decided to include triathlon in the competition program for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney for the first time - albeit initially expressly only provisional. A spectator-friendly presentation of the competitions was now important, which included making sure the winner was certain the moment the first athlete crossed the finish line. After it had always taken a long time in the first few years at short distance world championships until all official protests against referee decisions had been dealt with, drafting was approved for the first time at the short distance world championships in Cancún in November 1995 . Triathlon was thus split into two competition formats with completely different characteristics: On the one hand, the fight of the individual against the clock when the use of slipstream on the bike course is prohibited, on the other hand, drafting competitions in which athletes who do not start off with who were at the top hardly had a chance.

At the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000, triathlon then appeared for the first time among the Olympic rings. 48 women and 52 men competed in separate competitions over the 1989 Olympic distance. 2004 was identical to the first event in terms of mode and distance, but in Athens there were exactly 50 men and 50 women at the start. The number of athletes was increased to 55 men and 55 women in Beijing in 2008 and remained in London in 2012. In London the women's triathlon took place on Saturday 4th August and the men's triathlon on Tuesday 7th August.

Competitions

Triathlon - Current competitions
competition	00	04	08	12	16	20th	Games
	Men
singles	•	•	•	•	•	•	6th
Number of competitions	1	1	1	1	1	1

Triathlon - Current competitions
competition	00	04	08	12	16	20th	Games
	Women
singles	•	•	•	•	•	•	6th
Number of competitions	1	1	1	1	1	1

Medal table

So far, thirteen nations have shared the thirty medals awarded at the Olympic Games in triathlon.

space	country	gold	silver	bronze	total
1	Switzerland	2	1	2	5
	United Kingdom	2	1	2	5
3	Australia	1	2	2	5
4th	New Zealand	1	1	1	3
5	Canada	1	1	0	2
	Germany	1	1	0	2
7th	United States	1	0	1	2
8th	Austria	1	0	0	1
9	Portugal	0	1	0	1
	Spain	0	1	0	1
	Sweden	0	1	0	1
12	Czech Republic	0	0	1	1
	South Africa	0	0	1	1

qualification

The nomination of athletes for the starting places to which a participating country is entitled is made by the National Olympic Committee .

There are five ways for the NOCs to get a slot at the Olympic Games. Up to eight NOCs receive the maximum number of three starting places per gender. The other NOCs will each receive two starting places.

The first five starting places go to the winners of the five continental qualifying competitions. Three more starting places go to the top 3 at the ITU World Championship Series , should there be an athlete who has already won a continental qualification, he will be skipped. The next 39 places go to the NOCs whose athletes are highest in the ITU ranking (whereby already qualified athletes are also not taken into account). 48th place goes to the host country, if it has not already received a starting place, otherwise the next highest athlete of the host country in the ranking. Two places are awarded by the Tripartite Commission. Finally, five more places will be allocated to the NOCs via the ITU points list, with one place being allocated per continent.

Competition mode

The triathlon at the Olympic Games consists of two separate events for men and women, both of which go 1.5 km swimming, 40 km cycling and 10 km running. The start takes place as a mass start, slipstream riding is permitted on the bike course.

Because of the variability of the routes, neither Olympic records nor world records are held.

In 2013, the IOC made the decision to include team relay as an additional form of competition in the Olympic Games program. The teams are made up of two women and two men, each member successively completes a super sprint of 250–300 m swimming, 5–8 km cycling and 1.2–2 km running. The format was part of the youth Olympic Games program from the very beginning .

Participating Nations

The following nations took part in the last Olympic Games in triathlon with the number of starters listed in the table:

nation	00	04	08	12	16	Σ		00	04	08	12	16	Σ		00	04	08	12	16	Σ
	Starting places women							Starting places men							Total
Argentina	-	1	-	-	-	1		1	-	-	1	2	4th		1	1	-	1	2	5
Azerbaijan	-	-	-	-	-	-		-	-	-	-	1	1		-	-	-	-	1	1
Australia	3	3	3	3	3	15th		3	3	2	3	3	14th		6th	6th	5	6th	6th	29
Barbados	-	-	-	-	-	-		-	-	-	-	1	1		-	-	-	-	1	1
Belgium	2	2	-	1	2	7th		-	-	2	1	2	5		2	2	2	2	4th	12
Bermuda	-	-	1	1	1	3		-	1	-	1	-	2		-	1	1	2	1	5
Brazil	3	3	1	1	1	9		3	3	2	2	1	11		6th	6th	3	3	2	20th
Chile	-	-	1	1	1	3		1	-	-	1	-	2		1	-	1	2	1	5
People's Republic of China	2	2	2	1	1	8th		-	-	1	1	1	3		2	2	3	2	2	11
Costa Rica	1	-	-	-	-	1		-	-	-	1	1	2		1	-	-	1	1	3
Denmark	1	-	-	2	-	3		1	1	1	-	1	4th		2	1	1	2	1	7th
Germany	2	2	3	3	2 1	12		2	3	3	3	- 1	11		4th	5	6th	6th	2 1	23
Ecuador	-	-	-	1	1	2		-	-	-	-	-	-		-	-	-	1	1	2
Estonia	-	-	-	-	1	1		-	1	1	-	-	2		-	1	1	-	1	3
France	3	1	2	3	2	11		3	3	3	3	3	15th		6th	4th	5	6th	5	26th
Greece	-	-	1	-	-	1		1	1	-	-	-	2		1	1	1	-	-	3
Great Britain	3	3	2	3	3	14th		3	3	3	3	3	15th		6th	6th	5	6th	6th	29
Hong Kong	-	-	1	-	-	1		-	1	1	-	-	2		-	1	2	-	-	3
Ireland	-	-	1	1	1	3		-	-	-	1	1	2		-	-	1	2	2	5
Israel	-	-	-	-	-	-		-	-	-	-	1	1		-	-	-	-	1	1
Italy	2	3	2	1	2	10		1	1	2	2	2	8th		3	4th	4th	3	4th	18th
Jamaica	1	-	-	-	-	1		-	-	-	-	-	-		1	-	-	-	-	1
Japan	3	3	3	3	3	15th		3	2	2	2	1	10		6th	5	5	5	4th	25th
Jordan	-	-	-	-	-	-		-	-	-	-	1	1		-	-	-	-	1	1
Canada	3	3	3	2	3	14th		1	2	3	3	2	11		4th	5	6th	5	5	25th
Kazakhstan	-	1	-	-	-	1		2	1	-	-	-	3		2	2	-	-	-	4th
Colombia	1	1	-	-	-	2		-	-	-	1	-	1		1	1	-	1	-	3
Luxembourg	1	1	1	-	-	3		-	-	1	-	-	1		1	1	2	-	-	4th
Mauritius	-	-	-	1	1	2		-	-	-	-	-	-		-	-	-	1	1	2
Mexico	-	-	1	1	2	4th		-	2	1	1	3	7th		-	2	2	2	5	11
Monaco	-	-	-	-	-	-		-	-	-	1	-	1		-	-	-	1	-	1
New Zealand	1	1	3	3	2	10		3	3	3	3	2	14th		4th	4th	6th	6th	4th	24
Netherlands	3	2	1	2	1	9		3	-	1	-	-	4th		6th	2	2	2	1	13
Netherlands Antilles	-	-	-	-	-	-		1	-	-	-	-	1		1	-	-	-	-	1
Norway	-	-	-	-	-	-		-	-	-	-	1	1		-	-	-	-	1	1
Austria	-	2	3	1	2	8th		1	1	1	1	1	5		1	3	4th	2	3	13
Poland	-	-	2	2	1	5		-	-	1	1	-	2		-	-	3	3	1	7th
Portugal	-	1	1	-	-	2		-	-	2	2	3	7th		-	1	3	2	3	9
Puerto Rico	-	-	-	-	-	-		-	-	-	1	1	2		-	-	-	1	1	2
Russia	1	2	2	2	3	10		-	1	3	3	3	10		1	3	5	5	6th	20th
Sweden	-	-	1	1	1	3		1	-	-	-	-	1		1	-	1	1	1	4th
Switzerland	3	2	3	2	2	12		3	3	3	2	2	13		6th	5	6th	4th	4th	25th
Zimbabwe	-	-	-	-	-	-		1	-	1	1	-	3		1	-	1	1	-	3
Slovakia	-	-	-	-	-	-		-	-	1	1	1	3		-	-	1	1	1	3
Slovenia	-	-	-	1	1	2		-	-	-	-	-	-		-	-	-	1	1	2
Spain	1	3	2	3	3	12		3	3	2	3	3	14th		4th	6th	4th	6th	6th	26th
South Africa	1	1	2	2	2	8th		1	1	-	1	2	5		2	2	2	3	4th	13
South Korea	-	-	-	-	-	-		-	-	-	1	-	1		-	-	-	1	-	1
Syria	-	-	-	-	-	-		-	-	1	-	-	1		-	-	1	-	-	1
Czech Republic	1	3	2	2	1	9		3	2	1	2	-	8th		4th	5	3	4th	1	17th
Ukraine	-	-	1	1	1	3		2	3	3	1	1	10		2	3	4th	2	2	13
Hungary	3	1	1	1	2	8th		1	1	1	-	2	5		4th	2	2	1	4th	13
Venezuela	-	-	-	-	-	-		1	1	-	-	-	2		1	1	-	-	-	2
United States	3	3	3	3	3	15th		3	3	3	1	3	13		6th	6th	6th	4th	6th	28
Nations	24	25th	29	31	31	41		27	26th	30th	32	31	50		34	33	36	39	42	54
starter	48	50	55	55	55			52	50	55	55	55			100	100	110	110	110
year	00	04	08	12	16	Σ		00	04	08	12	16	Σ		00	04	08	12	16	Σ

¹In 2016, Germany was awarded three starting places for women and two for men, but the DOSB only nominated two of the athletes proposed by the DTU .

Web links

• Olympic.org
• ITU homepage

Individual evidence

1. ^ Sean Phelps: The creation and development of an international sport federation: A case study of the International Triathlon Union from 1989-2000 ( English , PDF) In: Electronic Theses, Treatises and Dissertations . 2006. Archived from the original on December 1, 2015. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved November 8, 2015. 
2. ↑ ^{a b} Qualification System - Games of the XXXI Olympiad - Triathlon (English) (PDF), ITU . February 2014. 
3. ↑ Triathlon Mixed Relay at Olympics ( English ) ITU . 17th May 2013.
4. ↑ Oliver Kubanek: DOSB nominates triathlete Anne Haug alone for the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro In: DTU July 12, 2016
5. ↑ Triathlete Laura Lindemann and two canoeists nominated ( memento of the original from August 7, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The  archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: DOSB July 19, 2016