Overhead, there was the distant whirl of the helicopter blades. Down below though, swans still swam elegantly and peacefully on the brimming Serpentine. A cool breeze rustled through the leaves of the lush green surroundings of Hyde Park. The only thing breaking the serene monotony was the noise.
On Tuesday, one of London’s most famous parks was transformed into a beehive of activity. 300,000 people had made their way to Hyde Park and now they stood in crowds 10 deep across the banks of the Serpentine and along the roads from Wellington Arch to Buckingham Palace.
And all this to watch 55 men battle it out in a winner take all test of endurance that included a 1500-metre swim, a 40-kilometre bike ride and a 10-kilometre run. This is the men’s triathlon, perhaps the most gruelling of Olympic sports.
But like all great stories, this too had a subtext. This one was sibling rivalry, or rather the lack of.
The favourites for the triathlon were Great Britain’s very own Brownlee brothers, Alistair and Jonathan. Fierce competitors they might be, but the two are so close that earlier in 2012 they had finished a race arm-in-arm. But Olympic officials had thrown in early warning signs; such a stunt could not be repeated in London where victory could come down to a photo finish and even the length of one’s vest might come into the reckoning.
Given the warning, it would then have been poetic justice had the two actually managed to pull off that extraordinary feat. For a while, it even looked possible, as deep into the final legs of the unthinkable 10-kilometre run, the Brownlee brothers were one and two. But Jonathan had incurred a needless 15-second penalty on the changeover from swimming to biking; a rule so pedantic in a sport of such magnificence that you wonder why it isn’t abolished. This meant that he finished third, while Alistair, showing quite remarkable speed over distance took the gold with a running time of 29 minutes and 7 seconds.
To put this into context, Mo Farah won his Olympic gold in the 10,000 metres in a time of 27 minutes and 30 seconds. Farah was at least spared the need to swim and bike before his record.
The cheer for the athletes was loud and joyous, as only 300,000 people can muster. But the athletes hardly heard it. Towards the end, their faces wore a grimace so pained you feared it might become a permanent expression. It leads you to think what these men put their bodies through. Whatever it must be, it’s certainly not good. As he crossed the line with a British flag draped across his shoulders, Alistair collapsed. The silver medallist Javier Gomez of Spain, also collapsed. Alistair managed to get up as his brother came through the finish. For a minute, he hugged him. Then Jonathan too fell. It was just a small indication of the level of endurance necessary to pull off a feat of such physical brilliance.
London, though, seemed to love the triathlon. As one journalist said, perhaps it is because each and every person feels that they have to perform a mini-version of it just to get to work every morning — slogging on bikes through the rain or jogging through royal parks.
But as you saw the athletes get ready for the first leg of their trip, under the granite skies and the cool wind, the cameras focused on Alistair Brownlee. The Yorkshire native loved this; it reminded him of home. And so he proved, bringing home the gold.
-With The Daily Star input
