Who are the best triathletes produced by every country? We engaged in this thought experiment and decided to limit it to 50 countries.
So, which 50 countries? The most populous? India, China, Indonesia? No. The countries with the most triathletes? We could've. In the end we just went with the top-50 athletes of all time, but limited to 1-per-country.
What follows is our list of the all-time best triathletes in each of 50 countries and it's not male and female; rather male or female. Just the most accomplished athlete, in wins, in talent, across disciplines. No ties allowed.
Long and short distance, ITU and Ironman, old and new, draft and no-draft, on- and off-road, and, when worthy, the most accomplished male or female triathlete each of these 50 countries has produced.
Countries included must be either sovereign states or nations participating in the Olympic Games with triathletes who have represented that country for the much of their careers. Thus Paula Newby-Fraser is listed with Zimbabwe, which she represented for the majority of her Ironman wins. Wales and Scotland, which are part of the Commonwealth but are not sovereign states separate from the United Kingdom and are not among the nations which send athletes to the Olympic Games, are not included.
Finally, this list is unlike the Baseball Hall of Fame in that it is chosen by a single individual who does not weigh popularity, rumors of drug use, or post championship PED suspensions. If an athlete's victories still stand in official Ironman, XTERRA or ITU records, he or she will not be excluded from consideration.
This is the first in a series of 10 stories - five countries at a time - listing the best triathlete in each country’s history. Countries will be listed in alphabetical order by country, starting theoretically with Afghanistan and Albania had they made the country cut. In fact our ranking begins with Argentina.
Argentina
Oscar Galindez Galindez is a natural choice to represent this South American nation given his two-plus decades of excellence. In the inaugural 2000 Olympics, Galindez was 28th. At the 2007 Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater, he scored a silver.
In the 1995 ITU Duathlon World Championships, he reaped gold. He is a 3-time Ironman Brazil Champion, and took bronze at the 1995 and 2003 Pan American Games. Little known fact: He lives in Brazil, Argentina’s greatest rival.
Australia
Michellie Jones The 5-foot 11-inch Jones towered over her era. She is a two- time ITU World Champion (1992 and 1993), an Olympic silver medalist (2000), a 2005 runner-up and a 2006 champion at the Ironman World Championship in Kona, and was the 1996 XTERRA World Champion.
Also noteworthy is her domination of non-drafting classics such as Escape From Alcatraz (8 times) and Chicago (7 times). Emma Snowsill, the 5-foot 3-inch mighty mite, dominated Olympic distance triathlon with three ITU World Championships, and won gold at the 2008 Olympics and the 2006 Commonwealth Games. The nod goes by the slimmest of margins to Jones because she stood atop the world in Olympic, Ironman and off-road triathlon.
Three Aussie men came close. Greg Welch won four World titles – 1994 Kona, 1990 ITU Olympic distance, 1993 ITU Duathlon Worlds and 1994 ITU Long Distance Worlds. Chris McCormack won four World titles - 1997 ITU Olympic distance, 2007 and 2010 Ironman World Championship and 2012 ITU Long Distance Championship. Craig Alexander won five world titles - the Ironman World Championship in 2008, 2009 and 2011, and the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in 2006 and 2011. So why Michellie? World titles are roughly even but none of the men made the Olympics nor did they win XTERRA Worlds.
Austria
Kate Allen Allen grew up on a sheep farm in Geelong, ran 3 kilometers to and from primary school, and studied nursing at Ballarat University. This Australian-born Austrian citizen (since 2002) won the 2004 Olympics with a smashing comeback from 44th place after the swim, taking down Loretta Harrop with 100 meters to the finish.
Allen won Ironman Austria twice, broke 9 hours once, and was 5th twice at the Ironman World Championship. In her gutsiest and final season, Allen suffered serious injuries in the 2008 New Plymouth World Cup, then recovered just in time to qualify for the Olympics with an 8th place finish at ITU Worlds and place 14th at Beijing.
Brazil
Fernanda Keller The great Fernanda is famed for her style as well as her triathlon career. She has a unique distinction - she is a six-time Ironman World Championship 3rd-place finisher. Most of that record is pure ability, but one of her podiums owes a bit to a rival’s misfortune. In 1995, Keller passed Paula Newby-Fraser walking to the finish after Paula's dramatic collapse a quarter mile from the end.
Fernanda is also a three-time Ironman Brazil winner, has 14 top 10 Kona finishes, and was briefly the oldest woman to win an Ironman, taking top honors at the 2008 edition of Ironman Brazil at 43 years and 8 months.
Belgium
Luc Van Lierde Cool Hand Luc set the Ironman World Championship race record of 8:04:08 at the 1996 edition in Kona, which held for 15 years until Craig Alexander broke it by 12 seconds in 2011.
Van Lierde also set the Ironman-distance world best time of 7:50:27 in 1997 at Ironman Europe in Roth, which lasted 14 years until it was broken by fellow Belgian Marino Vanhoenacker in 2011 at Ironman Austria. Van Lierde also won the Ironman World Championship in 1999 and took second at Kona in 1998. Van Lierde won silver behind Simon Lessing at the 1996 ITU Olympic distance World Championship, won the Nice International in 1996, and won the 1997 and 1998 ITU Long Distance Worlds. After his retirement, Van Lierde coached his non-related namesake Frederik Van Lierde to victory at the 2013 Ironman World Championship.
