I just finished watching the women’s Olympic tri race and it is exciting for those of you who taped it and plan on watching it later. As an avid anti-draft-legal tri fan it was nice to see a course that actually separates the strong from the coasters on the bike but I was disappointed when I saw some of the chase groups … talk about unorganized pursuit and just sitting up and cruising … pathetic effort. The first climb out of the transition is wicked and there was one athlete that actually fell off her bike because she couldn’t make it up the climb and the commentator on the Canadian TSN indicated that parts of the climb were in the 15 - 20% gradient range which hurts my legs just thinking about it.
It was Sandra Soldan from Brazil. On the French Eurosport they suggested she had problems shifting from her large chainring. But that wasn’t so much the sad part. What struck me was how she just gave up, right there and then. I wasn’t there so can’t know what the exact scenario was, but mentally, it looked like she just caved in from that little incident.
The winner came from one of those “pathetic” chase groups…
Allan, Ironguide, or Smartasscoach, can one of you please post a link to a website that had blow by blow coverage. I decided to pass on watching the 7 am CBC coverage in favour of my weekly Wed morning 90K ride. I should have stayed home, as I got hit by a car on the way to the ride, but miraculously, neither my brand spanking new bike nor my decripid overused body were damaged beyond a few scrapes. This was one of those hits where you thank the guy that lines up the stars above since another quarter second later and the driver (who was likely half asleep) would have hit me broadside. All he ended up doing was clipping my front wheel ! Anyway, I don’t think I can wait to get home to “see” the whole race. I saw no link on insidetri.com. Perhaps I need to check out Eurosport.
Tomorrow, I’ll have to do my 20K run before 7 am so I don’t miss the men’s race coverage on CBC !
www.duathlon.com has a decent write up and links to the ITU pics.
I could write you a blow by blow report, but then I would write the name “Vanessa” about 2000 times, it would be a bit boring 
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Hey! I put not a spolier in the title for a reason so no secrets. Regarless of who won, the efforts on the bike were PATHETIC but the group riders. There were times on the coverage when it looked like they were out for a warmup ride. The argument that it is too hard to enforce draft zones for elites doesn’t wash when there are only 50 entrants. Also, for those that say that the athletes are too evenly matched now, I maintain that the desired triathlete now is an ex-swimmer with the build to become a good runner so they all come out close together and the bike becomes much less of an asset (look at today’s race!) but if it was known beforehand that you could win by being a super studly biker and didn’t have to be able to swim in the lead pack that the athletes would exit the water a little more spread out. I know it is not going to change but I personally enjoyed watching the “old style” triathlon where a Mike Pigg would lay down the hammer and the best overall swim-bike-runner (I won’t say triathlete since the ITU has expanded that monniker to include what is currently being raced) would actually win.
Dev, I didn’t get any of my info off the internet. I taped the race off TSN last night and watched it early this morning. Coverage was excellent except they switched over to the damn bronze medal baseball game a few too many times for my liking. Glad to hear that you didn’t get messed up by the car. Good luck at the Ottawa half … I won’t be down to race you since I’m doing the half in Parry Sound on Sunday.
“Pathetic” chase groups? Don’t comment on someone’s race unless you are actually there or have been in their shoes. ITU races are now rarely contested over flat courses. That is thanks to Les McDonald. He actually spent a day walking around the venue to find the nastiest hill to include in the course. Contrary to many people’s opinion, a strong bike leg is VERY important in draft-legal racing…ever try one? The men’s pack will be climbing very hard to try to drop as many runners as possible. The runner sthen have to choose whether or not to redline to try to stay with the pack, or form a chase group and take the gamble of giving up some time and then trying to run the pack down. We’ll see tonight!
Dre
there is a short article describing the race here: http://www.athens2004.com/en/resultsTriathlon/results?item=0087c29c6f19ef00VgnVCM4000002b130c0a____&dcpnews=1&rsc=TR0000000
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Hey Paul, glad to hear you are OK. Eliminate the incident and keep going. You missed a great race though. No idea where to find blow by blow, but given the subject I can’t give it to you here since that would imply spoiler.
BTW, I nearly got hit by another boat last week! Swam him down though! After watching him recede into the distance, then pull into shore about half a mile down the beach, I changed course and swam steady to where he’d anchored 10m off the beach. When I pulled up he was heading back out to his boat so I sprinted over and hopped onboard. Gave him the tongue lashing of his life in front of a beach full of people, then swam off. What made it ridiculous was that I was swimming inside the 300m swimmer’s zone and he chose to take his boat onto the buoy line, about 3m from me – and he works with the boat, at that beach, offering rides on the banana thing to tourists. Don’t you just get fed up sometimes?
Well, I digress. Your bike incident reminded me, had to vent. Had a good swim today though!
YAWN really lost me when started talking about Mike Pigg… even back then he had his ass kicked by Mark Allen and a young Simon Lessing.
I thought you were watching Eurosport, no?
no, that was me!
No, I watched it live on Eurosport.
Les McDonald is the Antichrist. Him and Dick Pound are secretly heading up the Trilateral Commission and are probably Grand Poobahs in the Masons or something.
Conspiracy Theorist Kahuna
Dev,
You better check with the CBC to see if they will have the men’s tri on at 7:00am tomrrow morning( they might have coverage if Whitfield wins or places). This morning, they did NOT have the women’s on at 7:00 - it was a medal round volleyball game that they were broadcasting. My suggestion, as extremne as it sounds, is to get up at 3:00. I did it this morning. Watched the women’s race till it was finished at 5:15ish then went back to sleep for two hours. No training today for me, but I typically have more no-training days each week than I do training days, these days!!
Fleck
That makes two of us then. I had to switch to France 3 on occasion during the ads. Better announcers on Eurosport though.
YAWN really lost me when started talking about Mike Pigg… even back then he had his ass kicked by Mark Allen and a young Simon Lessing.
… who were also studly triathletes that didn’t have to rely on wheel sucking to have enough energy left to run at the end of the event Tell me that you at least feel a little for Harrop after all the work she put into that race. I know that the race strategy has changed with the inclusion of drafting and it is nice to see the courses being a lot more challenging and the race was exciting to watch but efforts like Harrop’s and Smet (who I thought was awesome) are what made the race exciting … The coverage over here didn’t even mention Allen until right at the end
“didn’t have to rely on wheel sucking to have enough energy left to run at the end of the event”
Allan,
You’re missing the point. Draft legal makes much better TV and can make interesting race tactics. Also, I can’t think of any bike section more boring to watch on the telly than last year’s IM Kona which had 16 or so IM pros almost drafting and none daring to make a break. ITU has found a good formula that has made it very successful. Consider how much better known Simon Whitfield is in Canada than Peter Reid.
I do feel for Harrop, but in the end, it’s who crosses the finish line first that gets the gold, not who put the most effort out. I thought it was a very good race.