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New Zealand Takes Gold and Silver in Athens, Switzerland Grabs Bronze

24 August 2004

It was an exciting conclusion to two amazing days of racing here in Athens with Hamish Carter (NZL) winning the gold medal in the men’s Olympic triathlon – only the second men’s gold ever to be awarded in the sport.

Conditions for racing were perfect this morning with temperatures hovering around 30 degrees and a slight wind from the north cooling the athletes off through the race.

The day started as anticipated with the top swimmers in the field leading the 49 athlete strong field through the 1 lap, 1500 metre opening stage. Andy Potts from the United States was the fastest in the water with Marko Albert from Estonia, current world champion Bevan Docherty (NZL) and Hamish Carter all in touch with the lead. Despite the best efforts of the top swimmers in the field to make a clear gap, however, the bulk of the field remained in touch through the first stage of the race and it was large group of athletes who all took off onto the 40km bike stage within seconds of one another.

Midway through the difficult 5 lap, 40km bike course a decisive breakaway group including the two New Zealand athletes, Bevan Docherty and Hamish Carter, two Swiss athletes, Oliver Marceau and Sven Riederer, Fredric Belaubre (FRA) and Andrew Johns (GBR) all managed to split the field and pull away from the main pack. This powerful pack worked well together throughout the closing stages of the race and managed to build a significant gap of 30 seconds over the chase pack. In the chase a front group, including the two Australians Greg Bennett and Peter Robertson, last year’s winner on this course, Rasmus Henning (DEN), Andreas Raelert (GER) and 5 or 6 others sat 30 seconds back. Meanwhile a further 25 seconds off the lead the second chase pack, including the reigning Olympic champion, Simon Whitfield (CAN), the 2002 World Champion, Ivan Rana (ESP) and American Hunter Kemper struggled to hold the pace, losing seconds on every lap.

By the second transition the leading 6 athletes had a 30 second advantage heading onto the final 4-lap, 10km run stage and with 30 degree heat and 65% humidity they were going to need every second they had. The main chase blew into transition and were off on the run in seconds with the two Australians Bennett and Robertson leading the field and a further 50seconds back the third chase pack finally entered the transition area, including the Sydney 2000 Olympic Champion, Whitfield – now with a 1min 20sec deficit to make up on the final 10km run.

Through out the run, Carter, Docherty and Riederer ran shoulder to shoulder – taking up the top three positions in the race while Johns, Marceau and Belaubre fell back in the standings. But the fastest runner on course was Aussie Greg Bennett who flew through transition in the first chase pack but was making up seconds on every lap. Further back Whitfield, Kemper and Rana were moving their way through the field but not fast enough to make any significant in-roads to the leaders over a minute ahead. In the closing stages of the race, the two Kiwi competitors pulled away from Riederer and as they approached the finish chute it was Hamish Carter who kicked into the lead, leaving a spent Docherty trailing in his wake. So it was an ecstatic Hamish Carter who crossed the line first today to grab the gold medal in the men’s triathlon with teammate Bevan Docherty taking the silver and Sven Riederer held on for bronze, just ahead of a charging Greg Bennett from Australia who finished 4th.

Find more details about this event - 2004 Athens Olympic Games Triathlon

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