I hope he makes the decision to do Tokyo just so we get to see him race more often, I think a tripple Gold medalist probably does more for his legacy even if he does manage to win Kona from now till the Olympics. (Sure many on here would disagree with that)

Very true.

In the UK, Ironman is a niche venture even amongst triathletes; 99.9% of the population haven't even heard of Kona and even if he won it, I doubt it would make the BBC News sports section the next day. In terms of funding and investment in British Triathlon a third Olympic gold, and possibly fourth in the mixed relay, would be miles ahead.

Whether that's enough to sway his decision making remains to be seen.

I'm a bit double sided about this, would love to see him win in Tokyo, but would also be awesome to see him line up 2019 in Kona and then go for 6+ straight wins.
I do also think that he will make a bid for the commonwealth marathon team come next cycle.

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Terrible Tuesday’s Triathlon

I agreed 3 golds in triathlon will be amazing. Has anybody ever won 3 golds in 3 games in an endurance sport? I'm not counting rowing :(

However, I wonder if it will be almost expected to win easy by the British public if he races. When there are no easy Golds.

In a single event. not sure... but in terms of multiple distance events, Mo Farah, Emil Zatopek, off the top of my head...

I doubt we'll see AB in Kona until after Tokyo... 70.3 worlds this year, but 2019 is the beginning of the olympic qualification cycle, and he'll need to at least race part-time on the WTS in order to qualify, and to ensure that GB qualifies a maximum number of slots... that is not really conducive with an assault on Kona...

I mean who knows, he might try to tackle ITU, 70.3 and Kona in the same season, because he's Ali Brownlee... but I doubt we'll see that until post-tokyo...

Mo Farah only won gold at 2 Olympics. Same for the great Emil. Notice I haven't mention them in the same sentence. One is the greatest distance run ever. The other is an great champion.

As I said, they won more than 3 golds, but not in the same event... Mo won two events back to back, but didn't get a 3rd title in either the 5000 or 10000... Lasse Viren was in the same boat... Zatopek won 4 total golds and a silver, including 3 at one games (5/10/marathon in Helsinki '52)... Sven Kramer came close in the long-track speed skating 5000m (silver in turin and golds in Vancouver and Sochi) is another one that comes to mind.

The only distance athlete off the top of my head with that longevity was Bjorn Daehlie... he won multiple golds in X-C skiing in 3 successive games (3 in albertville, 2 in lillihamer and 3 in Nagano (2 individual, the 3rd gold was in the relay) and an additional 4 silvers)...

I have raced it and found it to be pretty quick and not far off track times. It's a multi lap course which is pretty flat.

Let me know how your son finds it.

It won't be easy, obviously you have Jonny who will probably more physically in his prime at Oly distance than Ali, the emergence of Blummenfelt and Birtwhistle aswel as the obvious two in Mola and Murray. (Not even sure the course is hard to suit Ali?)

In a single event. not sure... but in terms of multiple distance events, Mo Farah, Emil Zatopek, off the top of my head... //


Michael Phelps has won 4 gold in 4 games in a row in the 200IM. OF course he has a lot more medals, but just a quick glance and I dont see anyone else winning 4 games in a row in the same swimming event? Of course his race is not a distance event, even though he trains 3 or 5 hours a day to do such a race. Swimming is funny that way...

Another thing I noticed when looking at olympic results is that the US has never lost a 4X100 Medley relay since its inception in 1960( we didn't compete in the 1980 boycott games) So 14 games in a row, that has to be some kind of relay record, no??

I'll throw a wrench in here:

What happens if Ali goes to the Olympics, and doesn't get gold? Now, to all of us we won't think twice of it as this is the top of the top, and a very hard sport, so winning all the time just doesn't happen (usually). BUT to the common person, and to the competitive athlete, this is a blow. Its one thing to be Floyd Mayweather and say "undefeated". But you take that loss and that OBLITERATES the greatness that comes with saying "undefeated". He'd have to hear the "getting old", "doesn't have it anymore", and all that. That is a BIG risk. Something to think about, and I'm sure people around him ARE thinking about. As a competitor you want to shot and you go for it, BUT...big risk comes with big reward.

I left Phelps out, because I wouldn't his events endurance races.... Because yes, his series of accomplishments are monstrous...

There is always the possibility that AB doesn't win in Tokyo, and one could argue what that does to his legacy... But i think the possibility of winning is enough to draw him to give it his best to try... If he gets there healthy, it'll be hard to bet against him...

Bradley Wiggins at 4 games (if you count track pursuit as an endurance event)

What a load of rubbish. Ironman is as well known as ITU in th UK. During the summer IM races are on one of the main channels on tv.

When Christie Wellington won kona it was all over the news both on tv, written and digital.

Bradley Wiggins at 4 games (if you count track pursuit as an endurance event) //

I don't believe he won 4 of those in a row? I believe he opted out one games and did the TT instead, of course getting gold there. But I think we are talking about 4 of the same exact event in a row, at least with phelps. And the pursuit would be akin to the swimming as far as endurance racing, not so much really. But a hell of a lot of endurance training to do those races, kind of funny that way..

Are Ironman races shown live on the BBC on a Sat afternoon?

No didn't think so.

Dario Cologna possibly in a couple of weeks.

Considering it's a sprint, I bet Ali doesn't win gold if he goes to Tokyo

Are you serious? When you talk to any member of the general public about Ironman, they think of Robert Downey Jr!

And I don't know which IMs you are watching?! If you're lucky you might find a highlights show of IMUK or Outlaw on one of the satellite/cable channels, but probably not until two weeks after the event! Anything else, including Kona, then forget it, you need to look for it online! Whereas both the men's and women's races of the ITU WTS are broadcast live and in full every single time on the BBC Red Button, if not BBC 1 or 2.

Public knowledge or engagement with long-distance tri is vanishingly small outside of participants themselves.

Al Oerter won 4 straight FYI

I'd never heard of Christie Wellington up until a few years ago and I consider myself quite knowledgeable about Sport in general. (Im quite new to Triathlon only been into it about 5 years.)

The general public haven't got a clue about Tri in the UK if you mention the Brownlee's to them of course they've heard of them, most don't know the differences between distances and I've never seen IM on UK TV.

Is Tokyo a sprint?

I'll think you'll find Ali has a very good record in Sprint distance anyway, i'd agree though his chances are much better at oly distance.

Afaik nothing is official though there has been talk of a sprint. Wouldn’t be surprised if they go Olympic though.

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Terrible Tuesday’s Triathlon

Yes. Respect you are correct.