For your consideration: Some Olympic Triathlon numbers you might guess. And some to test the wits of the tri-cognescenti.
Biggest come from behind Olympic Triathlon wins
Men: At the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Simon Whitfield of Canada was in 28th place after the swim, 1:10 behind the leader. After the bike and transition, Whitfield was in 25th place, 1:08 behind the leader. After his race-best 30:52 run, Whitfield had passed 27 men and won by 13 seconds over Stefan Vuckovic of Germany.
Women: At the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Kate Allen of Austria was 44th after the swim, 2:01 behind leaders Australian Loretta Harrop and Sheila Taormina of the U.S. After the bike and T2, Allen was in 28th position, 2:53 behind Harrop. After her race-best 33:47 run, Allen beat Harrop for gold by 7 seconds.
Fastest Olympic runs
Was London short?
Men: 29:07 - 2012 Olympic champion Alistair Brownlee of Great Britain. Javier Gomez of Spain (29:16) Jonny Brownlee of Great Britain (29:37) and David Hauss of France (29:53) are the only other men to crack 30 minutes in the Olympic Triathlon 10k.
Women: 33:17 - 2008 Olympic champion Emma Snowsill.
Fastest Olympic Triathlon swims
Men: 16:56 – Richard Varga of Slovakia at 2012 London.
Women: 18:16 – Lucy Hall of Great Britain at London.
Lucky 34
Emma Snowsill won gold at Beijing in 2008, Susan Williams won bronze at Athens in 2004 and Magali Di Marco won bronze at Sydney in 2000 all wearing number 34. This year Andreas Schilling of Denmark and Ainhoa Murua of Spain drew the lucky number.
Unlucky 13
The number 13 is excluded from all ITU races including the Olympics.
Closest Olympic Triathlon finishes
Women: Photo finish - 2 inches – Nicola Spirig of Switzerland over Lisa Norden of Sweden at London in 2012.
Men: 6 seconds, Jan Frodeno of Germany over Simon Whitfield of Canada at the 2008 Olympics.
No repeats
So far no Olympic Triathlon Gold Medalist has repeated. This year Alistair Brownlee and Nicola Spirig have a chance.
Largest Olympic Triathlon winning margins
Men: 13 seconds – Simon Whitfield over Stefan Vuckovic of Germany at the 2000 Olympics.
Women: 67 seconds – Emma Snowsill over Vanessa Fernandes at Beijing.
Fastest Olympic Triathlon winning times
Depends on the measuring wheel of the RD
Men: 1:46:25 – Alistair Brownlee at London.
Women: 1:58:26 – Emma Snowsill at Beijing.
Steepest Olympic bike hill
The Athens bike course maxed out at 20 percent.
Slowest Olympic finishing times
Blame this one on the daunting hills of Athens
Men: Marc Jenkins (GBR) 2:05:33 - 45th
Women: Delphine Pelletier (FRA) 2:22:39 - 44th
Oldest Olympic Triathlete
Men: Rob Barel of the Netherlands – 42 years 4 months– finished 44th at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
Women Ainhoa Murua of Spain – 38 years 1 month at 2016 Olympics.
Youngest Olympic Triathlete
Women
18 years 11 months – Vanessa Fernandes of Portugal at 2004 Olympics.
Country with most Olympic Triathlon medals:
Australia - 5. All women. Gold - Emma Snowsill (2008); Silver - Michellie Jones (2000) and Loretta Harrop (2004); Bronze – Emma Moffatt (2008) and Erin Densham (2012).
Olympic winner average deficit after the swim.
No gold medalist led the Olympic Triathlon swim
Men: 22.5 seconds
Women: 57.5 seconds
Raced Olympics for two countries
Manny Huerta for USA in 2012 and for Puerto Rico in 2016
Four-time Olympic Triathletes
In Rio Field: Hirokatsu Tayama, Japan. Sven Riederer, Switzerland. Ainhoa Murua, Spain. Nicola Spirig, Switzerland. Previous: Hunter Kemper USA, Simon Whitfield, Canada, Anja Dittmer Germany.
Triathletes named flag bearer in opening ceremony
One. Simon Whitfield for Canada at the 2012 Olympics.
Olympic test event winners who won Olympic gold
One. Alistair Brownlee won the 2011 Olympic test event in London and won gold at the 2012 Olympics. This year, only Gwen Jorgensen has a chance – 2015 Rio test event winner Javier Gomez is out with a broken elbow.
Highest WTS winning average in 2016 field
Women: Gwen Jorgensen has 17 wins in 35 WTS starts – 48.6 win percentage.
Men Alistair Brownlee has 21 wins in 32 WTS starts – 67 win percentage.
