Triathlon legend Tim Don, who was 10th in the first ever Olympic triathlon in Sydney, has said blaming the weather is a “poor excuse” from Paris Games organisers after the men’s race was postponed for at least 24 hours because the water quality wasn’t up to scratch in the River Seine.
The news all triathlon fans were fearing came in the early hours of Tuesday morning, just four hours before the scheduled start of the men’s race.
There has been a much-vaunted clean-up operation to make the Seine swimmable for the first time in a century but both the pollution levels and the speed of the current are the key markers which determine whether the athletes are allowed to swim.
At Tuesday’s IOC press briefing, officials cited “meteorological events outside of our control”, with 25mm of rain falling on Friday and Saturday leading to the current problems.
‘That’s a poor excuse’
But reacting to the news, four-time World Triathlon champion Don told TRI247: “I’m not surprised. But I’m absolutely gutted. Gutted for the athletes, gutted for the first timers, gutted for the medal contenders.
“We’ve had three different instances – the Test Events last year and two open water swimming ones – where we couldn’t swim in the Seine.
“And obviously we couldn’t swim yesterday or the day before [at swim familiarisation]. To say all of that is due to major climatic incidences, that’s a poor excuse, in my opinion.
“This was more than a small percentage that it was going to happen and we don’t have an acceptable Plan B unfortunately.”
Unlike marathon swimming, which will decamp to the Olympic rowing venue at Vaires-sur-Marne if needed, the Plan B for triathlon is effectively to turn it into a duathlon (run/bike/run).
‘It will always be asterisked’ if a duathlon
Don, who won the World Duathlon title in 2002, pointed out: “If they turn it into a duathlon it’s simply a different sport. I’ve been World Duathlon champ and I love it. But it’s not triathlon.
“The European Champs last year were turned into a duathlon – Jonny Brownlee got on the podium, Jeanne Lehair won the women’s. They are world-class triathletes, so it might be the same result, but it’s a different sport.
“You know, could we compare it to the mountain bike course being unrideable and them turning it into a cyclocross? It’s the same, but it’s not the same, because van der Poel would probably win and van Aert would get second, but they ain’t going to get first and second in a mountain bike race.
“It will open the door for certain athletes to do really, really well but it will always be asterisked – the Olympic triathlon that wasn’t a triathlon.”
Pressure on World Triathlon
Don, one of the shrewdest minds in the sport and a much-admired manager in the short-format Super League / supertri sphere, also thinks there are lots of questions to answer.
He added: “I genuinely think that having the men’s race tomorrow wasn’t a contingency plan, it was just ‘Oh, my God, we need to think on our feet here.
“And at this level, whether it’s World Triathlon dropping the ball or the IOC insisting that they want it in the centre of town so it looks an amazing spectacle, it is the athletes that are going to suffer initially – and long term, it could be the sport.
“You know, World Triathlon have had an awful year through their fault or not.
“Not for now, but in four, five, eight weeks time, if I was a federation, or the European triathlon union, I would be wanting to have some clear answers and some clear direction from World Triathlon as to where our sport’s going.”
‘Who’s going to ride the wave best’
But that’s for the future and the big question now is how will the athletes react to the changes?
Few are better placed than Don to comment – he’s worked closely with most of the medal favourites in supertri, winning the title with the Santara Tech Eagles in 2023 while this year he will oversee the new Podium Racing outfit.
And he told us: “First of all, on the surface, the athletes will be going, well, it’s the same for everyone. I’ve got to do the job at hand.
“But without a doubt, you plan for today. For the last three years, today was the day.
“All their training, all their mental preparation, even their preparation with what they’re eating – they will be absolutely gutted.
“So who is the most resilient? Who’s going to kind of ride the wave the best?
“They will be putting the disappointment and the frustration and the venting at the back of their mind and trying to think, right easy jog, easy spin. Can we get in the pool?
“And they’re going to want to know the protocol because, again, timing at the Olympics is everything in terms of logistics.”
Staff shortage?
And it’s not just the athletes who have been put on the spot – but also the support crews around them.
Don pointed out that whether Wednesday or Friday: “The races are now on the same day. Even things like the buses from the village or setting up transition could now be trickier.
“Or maybe with the physio, you can’t get your back cracked at a certain time because of extra demand.
“Now the staff are going to be split between men and women.
“When the men are warming up, they’ll still be focused on the women racing. They can’t all of a sudden fly in a load of extra staff either.
All of those things the federations would have worked out to the second, it’s all gone out the window.
“I think the countries not in the village are going to be at an advantage because they’re closer to the venue.
“This is when an on-site coach is going to be crucial in the support team. The bigger federations are going to be having meetings now to cover every eventuality. How are we going to keep them positive? How are we going to keep them fresh?
“I think that support network is going to be key. I know Hayden [Wilde]’s flown in different people – he’s got his personal coach there who doesn’t often come.
“And if it ends up being Friday, what’s going to happen in the team relay because they haven’t got as long to recover?
‘Triathlon is such a gritty sport’
“But I think mentally we’ve got such resilient athletes – triathlon is such a gritty sport. I’ve got no doubt they’ll be be up for the challenge. There’s always different conditions to deal with.
“But to prepare for the biggest day of someone’s career, whether it’s a first time or a medal contender or someone fighting for a top 10, this water is unchartered.”
And asked if the athletes are more adaptable than they’ve ever been, Don is in no doubt: “Absolutely. The likes of Marten van Riel can step up to T100 and nail it. Then you’ve got someone like Cassandre Beaugrand, the improvement in her skill set has just been astronomical over the last 18 months.
“There are plenty of reasons for that and one of them is racing each other often in things like supertri – with different formats, extra transition practises and lots more. They have to think on their feet during the race, you need to be adaptable.
“The modern triathlete is definitely different to Sydney when I went to my first Olympics 24 years ago.
“They are master of all trades and I think one of the skill sets now is that adaptability. Racing Super League gives those athletes a massive advantage over some of the more traditional athletes who could easily be more rattled by what has happened so far.”
