Olympics: I was done but something changed - Tokyo allure irresistible
to Brownlee
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[April 16, 2021]
By Peter Hall
LEEDS, England (Reuters) - Alistair
Brownlee was done with the Olympics. Having won triathlon gold in
London in 2012 and Rio de Janeiro four years later, Tokyo, even with
the event delayed by a year, felt too much for a man who had
switched his focus to longer events.
But the Olympic allure, no matter how difficult it will be for this
triathlon superstar to even qualify for this summer's showpiece, has
proven to be irresistible.
"It definitely wasn't the plan to do Olympic distance triathlon
again," Brownlee told Reuters. "I was pretty sure that 2016 was
going to be my last year of shorter distance racing. After 2018 I
wanted to completely move on.
"I had basically four or five years of injury after injury. I was
fed up. I was pretty close to retiring, from the long distance as
well. Injuries are the one thing that really make me struggle with
motivation.
"But then something happened. I started to feel better again. My
training was going really well. My body got really healthy," he
added.
"I thought I'd train as hard as I could for four or five months,
throw everything at it, and if I qualify it would be amazing to go
to the Olympics again."
Having conquered the Olympic distance of 1,500 metres swim, 40km
bike and 10km run, an altogether more mind-blowing challenge became
the 32-year-old Briton's focus – "SUB7".
Brownlee's goal is to become the first person to complete the
Ironman distance – 3.9 kilometre open water swim and 180km cycle
followed by a full marathon – in under seven hours. That is more
than 35 minutes under the world record.
As many before him have found, Olympic dominance is no guarantee of
immediate Ironman success. At the world championships in Hawaii in
2019 Brownlee struggled badly on the run and dropped from third
place to 21st.
However, as he has done all his life, it did not take him long to
climb to the top as six weeks later Brownlee won an Ironman race in
Australia, smashing the course record, before COVID-19 curtailed the
season.
"You'd think it is much easier racing for two hours compared to the
eight in Ironman, but it isn't," he says. "In fact, shorter distance
is the harder form of racing."
Brownlee has other interests, too, with his latest book
"Relentless", an investigation into sporting greatness, released in
July.
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Alistair Brownlee of
England. REUTERS/David Gray
DISTANCE TRAINING
But just writing a book while putting in hours of Ironman distance
training would have been too easy for this differently-wired
athlete. A late battle to qualify for the British Olympic triathlon
team has been squeezed in too.
The fact he is chasing a third successive gold counts for nothing.
His Ironman focus has meant Brownlee has neglected Olympic distance
triathlon and has fallen down the pecking order.
Brother Jonny, who won silver in Rio and bronze in London, has
bagged one Olympic team spot, with potentially two more up for
grabs. Alistair is going to have to do it the hard way.
"It is a complicated path (to qualify)," Brownlee adds. "As a Great
Britain team, we don’t know if we have two or three slots yet.
"In the upcoming qualification races, if I go out and win there's
effectively nothing to worry about. But someone else could do the
same."
It was initially feared the season would not restart before the
Olympics, but there was relief when World Triathlon announced the
races will resume in Yokohama, Japan in May.
It will be a tall order, but one final shot at an Olympic treble is
still possible.
"I did a few competitive races late last year," Brownlee said.
"I was seconds off beating the best guy in the world. I’m in the
best condition I could hope for. My swimming is as good if not
better than it has ever been.
"I'm committed to being in the best possible shape and be ready to
win in Tokyo. But also, I'm really happy I've been to three Olympics
and won twice. Fourteen-year-old me never dreamed of doing that."
The odds are stacked against him, but that has never stopped
Alistair Brownlee before.
(Reporting by Peter Hall, editing by Ed Osmond)
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