When Harry Met Javi
Written by: Dan Empfield
Date: Wed Jun 29 2011
For nearly 20 years—since the ITU changed its format to draft-legal—it's been asking the rest of the world to please pay attention.
The ITU has delivered on everything it's promised. The racing is compelling. The athletes are superb. In response to the ITU's good work, Slowtwitch.com is privileged to cover ITU racing and its athletes more comprehensively than any title worldwide.
Still, there has just been that something missing. It's just not Dave and Mark in '89. It's not Julie Moss in '82. ITU-style racing is good, hard, clinical, scrubbed, white bread, racing.
Until this past weekend, that is, when Olympic-style developed an edge. An Englishman named Harry Wiltshire just made ITU racing the hottest endurance sports ticket in town. Move over David Beckham, to make room in the Sun for Harry. Hey Pippa, forget the Prince. We've got a far more textural Harry for you.
In case you've been living under a swim buoy, team tactics in ITU racing just did a mobius flip. It's all on our Reader Forum, with a link to triathlon's Spanish language Zapruder Film. You can get into the tall weeds there.
What's worth writing about, now, is where Oly Tri goes from here.
This is what the ITU has said so far, and this is all it's pledged to say, until it comes up with its solution to Harry:
The ITU is aware of incidents at the European Championships involving Harry Wiltshire (GBR) and Javier Gomez (ESP) during the swim portion of the elite men’s race. The chief swim official reported Wiltshire was in violation of the following rules: 2.1 a.) (i), 3.3 a.) (i), Appendix L 6. and Appendix L 7. As a result, Wiltshire was disqualified. The Spanish Triathlon Federation has appealed the incident and the ITU Executive Board will review the possibility of further action.
The ITU's statement tells us just the other side of nothing. We already knew Harry Wiltshire was disqualified. We already knew the Spanish are upset. What the statement doesn't say is whether the ITU thinks the chief swim official's reading of the rule was correct. Nor whether it has decided, yet, whether Harry Wiltshire's behavior was in accordance with the rules. Nor whether Harry Wiltshire did anything wrong at all. It doesn't suggest that new rules are forthcoming, or whether an interpretation of the rules is anticipated.
My sources inside the ITU and the British Triathlon Federation, speaking on background, say that Harry Wiltshire—a very good swimmer/cyclist and very able and enthusiastic Brownlee lieutenant—exhibited an exuberance in protecting the Brownlee brothers that the ITU deems unacceptable. The ITU "at the highest levels" is huddled up, for as long as two weeks so say my sources, determining what is to be done.
Race commissioners took all of several hours to decide what to do about Mark Renshaw's head butt in stage-11 of last year's Tour de France. Against that backdrop, you might ask why this process takes two weeks—two silent weeks. Be happy there's another WCS race in two weeks. If not, it's by no means clear whether the ITU would feel any urgency to get it done that fast. This, because there's nothing in the ITU's communiqué to suggest a timeline for its process, or whether it feels time is of the essence.
We're left with the specter of unnamed fellows with whistles, stop watches and blue blazers huddling together, unengaged with the world outside of the room they're in, even as a swashbuckling mercenary hands the ITU a firecracker plotline. Love him or hate him, Les McDonald would, in the case of Dirty Harry (the Sun's headline, not ours), be more communicative, and less secretive.
Harry Wiltshire is probably guilty of some bad judgment and behavior. Still, and irrespective of the proximate cause, Olympic-style triathlon is not just good clean lads with hair above their ears engaged in wholesome sport. Now—this week at least—it's layered with intrigue and tactics and ethics and a clash of world views and people on forum boards on every continent between the 65th parallels talking about it: just the sort of stuff that causes a sport to blow sky high and catch fire.
But now spectators are focused on the ITU's performance in its decisive moment, rather than Harry's, like the 80,000 fans in the stadium sitting on their hands while those in the zebra suits huddle for minutes-on-end under an instant replay tent.
To those busy adjudicating and ruminating in that room lit by an absconce: Worry not about the appearance of appropriateness, rather focus just on appropriateness. Activate the virtues needed for the job at hand: in this case, transparency; decisiveness; judgment; competence, leadership.
Highlight in particular, between now and the announcement of your resolution: transparency, decisiveness, and leadership.
The ITU has delivered on everything it's promised. The racing is compelling. The athletes are superb. In response to the ITU's good work, Slowtwitch.com is privileged to cover ITU racing and its athletes more comprehensively than any title worldwide.
Still, there has just been that something missing. It's just not Dave and Mark in '89. It's not Julie Moss in '82. ITU-style racing is good, hard, clinical, scrubbed, white bread, racing.
Until this past weekend, that is, when Olympic-style developed an edge. An Englishman named Harry Wiltshire just made ITU racing the hottest endurance sports ticket in town. Move over David Beckham, to make room in the Sun for Harry. Hey Pippa, forget the Prince. We've got a far more textural Harry for you.
In case you've been living under a swim buoy, team tactics in ITU racing just did a mobius flip. It's all on our Reader Forum, with a link to triathlon's Spanish language Zapruder Film. You can get into the tall weeds there.
What's worth writing about, now, is where Oly Tri goes from here.
This is what the ITU has said so far, and this is all it's pledged to say, until it comes up with its solution to Harry:
The ITU is aware of incidents at the European Championships involving Harry Wiltshire (GBR) and Javier Gomez (ESP) during the swim portion of the elite men’s race. The chief swim official reported Wiltshire was in violation of the following rules: 2.1 a.) (i), 3.3 a.) (i), Appendix L 6. and Appendix L 7. As a result, Wiltshire was disqualified. The Spanish Triathlon Federation has appealed the incident and the ITU Executive Board will review the possibility of further action.
The ITU's statement tells us just the other side of nothing. We already knew Harry Wiltshire was disqualified. We already knew the Spanish are upset. What the statement doesn't say is whether the ITU thinks the chief swim official's reading of the rule was correct. Nor whether it has decided, yet, whether Harry Wiltshire's behavior was in accordance with the rules. Nor whether Harry Wiltshire did anything wrong at all. It doesn't suggest that new rules are forthcoming, or whether an interpretation of the rules is anticipated.
My sources inside the ITU and the British Triathlon Federation, speaking on background, say that Harry Wiltshire—a very good swimmer/cyclist and very able and enthusiastic Brownlee lieutenant—exhibited an exuberance in protecting the Brownlee brothers that the ITU deems unacceptable. The ITU "at the highest levels" is huddled up, for as long as two weeks so say my sources, determining what is to be done.
Race commissioners took all of several hours to decide what to do about Mark Renshaw's head butt in stage-11 of last year's Tour de France. Against that backdrop, you might ask why this process takes two weeks—two silent weeks. Be happy there's another WCS race in two weeks. If not, it's by no means clear whether the ITU would feel any urgency to get it done that fast. This, because there's nothing in the ITU's communiqué to suggest a timeline for its process, or whether it feels time is of the essence.
We're left with the specter of unnamed fellows with whistles, stop watches and blue blazers huddling together, unengaged with the world outside of the room they're in, even as a swashbuckling mercenary hands the ITU a firecracker plotline. Love him or hate him, Les McDonald would, in the case of Dirty Harry (the Sun's headline, not ours), be more communicative, and less secretive.
Harry Wiltshire is probably guilty of some bad judgment and behavior. Still, and irrespective of the proximate cause, Olympic-style triathlon is not just good clean lads with hair above their ears engaged in wholesome sport. Now—this week at least—it's layered with intrigue and tactics and ethics and a clash of world views and people on forum boards on every continent between the 65th parallels talking about it: just the sort of stuff that causes a sport to blow sky high and catch fire.
But now spectators are focused on the ITU's performance in its decisive moment, rather than Harry's, like the 80,000 fans in the stadium sitting on their hands while those in the zebra suits huddle for minutes-on-end under an instant replay tent.
To those busy adjudicating and ruminating in that room lit by an absconce: Worry not about the appearance of appropriateness, rather focus just on appropriateness. Activate the virtues needed for the job at hand: in this case, transparency; decisiveness; judgment; competence, leadership.
Highlight in particular, between now and the announcement of your resolution: transparency, decisiveness, and leadership.
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Comments
A dangerous precedent may have been set....
Reviewed by: Giles Hyland, Jun 30 2011 1:20PM
In what way exactly is ITU racing a team sport? There is no team ranking at the end of each race or season (like with Formula One's constructor's championship for example) and there is no pre-defined team size (such as in cycling) for each event. Prize money is not shared to the best of my knowledge either. Individual athletes largely set their own season's schedules as well. Furthermore, the fact the ITU are pressing for their new mixed team event to be included in the Olympics suggests they perceive the current format to be very much an individual event. The only thing that makes it a team sport is a if a team chooses to deploy team tactics. But use of these tactics and what is deemed acceptable or not is rather subjective. I totally agree that Wiltshire's actions have cast a shadow but I would be equally concerned by a massive knee jerk over-reaction of stripping any athlete of prize money or a title because of something a team mate is perceived to have done - with or without team orders. I am British by the way and was very worried by what I saw. Why on earth did the BTF (or Wiltshire himself) consider these tactics advantageous to our senior athletes? If no action is taken the world will know the Brownlees are fair game for a bit of rough stuff themselves. A dangerous precedent has been set with no obvious quick fix.
And so?
Where is your opinion?
Reviewed by: Mark Cathcart, Jun 30 2011 11:44AM
As always the best commentators and observers have an opinion, but you've dodged it, just like the ITU! Shame on you.
While Les McDonald might have had an answer, it was frequently the wrong one, and would change based on the personalities involved and which way the wind was blowing. The answer was mostly what was right for Les' view of where he wanted triathlon to go. Nothing wrong with that and he achieved a lot.
For what it's worth, and yes I know I'm a Brit', I really think the Spanish are making a storm in a teacup, in such a high money stakes business that Les has created by getting Triathlon into the Olympics, the role of the domestiques is well understood and has been practiced by the Australians, Candians and most of all the Spanish with Rana previously.
This isn't about the future of "our" sport, its Olympic triathlon. Maybe Harry did overstep the mark, but really man-up, this would be a 10-yard penalty in football, Gomez would have still been well beaten...
While Les McDonald might have had an answer, it was frequently the wrong one, and would change based on the personalities involved and which way the wind was blowing. The answer was mostly what was right for Les' view of where he wanted triathlon to go. Nothing wrong with that and he achieved a lot.
For what it's worth, and yes I know I'm a Brit', I really think the Spanish are making a storm in a teacup, in such a high money stakes business that Les has created by getting Triathlon into the Olympics, the role of the domestiques is well understood and has been practiced by the Australians, Candians and most of all the Spanish with Rana previously.
This isn't about the future of "our" sport, its Olympic triathlon. Maybe Harry did overstep the mark, but really man-up, this would be a 10-yard penalty in football, Gomez would have still been well beaten...
Team Fouls
Jordan Rapp
Reviewed by: Jordan Rapp, Jun 29 2011 9:28PM
Anyone who has ever watched an American football game under the Friday night, Saturday afternoon, or Sunday stadium lights has seen an apparent touchdown called back because of a foul that had no material bearing on the play just executed. Some wide receiver holds his corner back, and the ball comes back. And then goes another five yards back. And a down is lost. As team tactics become the reality of ITU racing, the rules *must* adapt to accommodate this growth in the nature of ITU racing. Just as Mark Cavendish suffered for Mark Renshaw's tactics in the '10 TdF, so should ALL members of BTF suffer for Mr. Wiltshire's. It's the way the rules are enforced in virtually every team sport. And ITU racing is, make no mistake, a team sport. The ITU must set a precedence with this incident. Otherwise, ITU runs the risk of having "enforcers" present, potentially upending the Olympic Games and casting a very black eye on the sport's future.
