Aussie hopes of clean sweep in triathlon recede

Sydney: When the women's triathlon was chosen as the first medal event of the Sydney Olympics, Australians confidently assumed that it would both showcase the city's spectacular harbour as well giving them a golden start.

The scene is certainly set for a wonderful occasion on Saturday morning, but the chances of a home clean sweep look less secure now, despite the host nation's dominance at the top of the world rankings.

The men's event on Sunday, in which Australia also had huge strength in depth a few years ago, is even more wide open, with strong contenders from Europe, Asia, and North and South America.

For the sport itself, making its Olympic debut, the question of who wins is less important than how the event is run. Triathlon is not guaranteed a place in future Games and a series of recent mishaps have left it looking way short of Olympic class.

The world championships in Perth in April were a disaster, with in-fighting between the sport's administrators and a running course two kilometres short of the designated 10.

Selection appeals

Not only did that leave organisers open to ridicule, it also sparked a series of selection appeals and court actions.

Australia suffered more than most, with race winner Nicole Hackett and last year's world champion Loretta Harrop only discovering their places were safe 10 days ago, after former double world champion Emma Carney lost her appeal to be included.

Australian women filled the top five places at last year's world championships but two had to miss out because of the quota of three competitors per nation.

The Australians, headed by world number one Michellie Jones, still represent a formidable threat but the dream of a clean sweep is under pressure."In the past we have done very well but there are a few other countries out there that would love to prove that the Aussies can't always get one, two and three," Jones said this week.

Swimming gold medallist

Leading the challenge is Canadian Carol Montgomery, who is also entered for the 10,000 metres on the track, Swiss pair Brigitte McMahon and Magali Messmer, the world number seven, and a strong American trio of Jennifer Gutierrez, Joanna Zeiger and Sheila Taormina, a swimming gold medallist in Atlanta in the 4x200 metres freestyle.

Craig Walton, at six, is the highest-ranked Australian in the men's event and trials winner Peter Robertson and veteran Miles Stewart complete a formidable trio.

Robertson said recently that he did not mind who won gold as long as it was an Australian but his personal coach, former cyclist Martin Vinnicombe, did little to foster team spirit when describing Stewart as "hog-jowled and fat."

Britain have won six of the last nine men's world championships and the owner of four of those titles, South Africa-born Simon Lessing, and former Australian Andrew Johns give their adopted country a strong presence.

Lessing has identified Walton as the man to watch, predicting that the race will be won and lost during the run. Olivier Marceau of France will fancy his chances following his world championship victory in June and the podium could have a cosmopolitan look with Dimitry Gaag of Kazakhstan, currently number one in the world rankings, Gilberto Gonzalez of Venezuela, New Zealander Hamish Carter, Canadian Simon Whitfield and Czech Jan Rehula in the hunt.



(c) Reuters Limited.