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ANCIENT ORIGINS
ANCIENT
SPORTS COMBINE TO GIVE OLYMPIAD ITS LATEST THRILL
Triathlon is guaranteed one
of the most spectacular backdrops for an Olympic
debut in Games history; Sydney Harbour and the
Opera House. The women will race on the
opening morning of the Games, followed by the
men the next morning.
Although the sport is technically
just 27 years old - competitions dating back
to California in 1973 before the Hawaiian Ironman
challenge, which is regarded as the sport's true origin
in 1978 - its individual components are, of
course, ancient: swimming, cycling, running.
The fathers of triathlon
are regarded as being Jack Johnstone, a university
swimmer who could run and cycle, too, and took
part in one of the original triathlons in San
Diego in 1974, Don Shanahan, and Dave Pain,
whose "The Dave Pain Birthday Biathlon" - a
2.8 kilometres run and 200 to 300 metres swim provided the
prototype for triathlon. All three men came
together to stage the Mission Bay Triathlon,
a 6-mile run, 5-mile cycling and 500-yard swim.
The race attracted 46 competitors, including
the man who finished 35rd, John Collins, a US
navy officer then stationed in Hawaii.
Collins enjoyed himself
so much that he decided it would be a good idea
to combine Hawaii's Waikiki Roughwater Swim,
Around-Oahu Bike Race and Honolulu Marathon
as one event; that meant an exhausting schedule
involving a 3.85 kilometres open water swim, a 179 kilometres
cycle and a 42 kilometres run. The Ironman challenge
was born.
The newly formed International
Triathlon Union staged its inaugural world championships
in 1989 in a format to be used in Sydney; a
1.5 kilometres swim, 40 kilometres cycle and 10 kilometres run.
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