Olympic Diary - part 2: Inside the Olympic Games with Andrea Gabba...
Publikováno:
2016-06-05 15:55:02
Kategorie:
Inside the Olympic Games
Andrea Gabba
Nationality: Italian
Lives: Torino, Italy
Esperience: triathlon coach, two time leader of the Italian National team, and current coach of the Turkish National Triathlon team.
Olympic Diary - part 2: Inside the Olympic Games with Andrea Gabba...
We are only one or two months away from the Olympics in Rio. The first few races of the season determined the 110 athletes (55 men and 55 women) who would qualify for the Rio Olympics. With the list chosen, we can now analyze some of the Olympic favorites. Looking back to the podium at the Olympic Games in London 2012, we can say without a doubt that the start of the season for these athletes was not the most ideal and certainly didn’t give them peace of mind.
Gold medalist Alistar Brownlee from London competed in the race on the Gold Coast. He performed well in the swim and bike, but his lack of preparation was visible on the course. His biggest rival is Spanish athlete Javier Gomez, who didn’t participate due to an injury early in the race. However, at the end of May, he won the European title. The Lisbon Continental race, however, didn’t offer up any favorites for Rio, so we will better see where he stands in the next few weeks. His strategy may be just to relax and only deal with the best in Rio. On the third step of the podium is Alistar’s younger brother Jonathan who has also competed in the Gold Coast race. He ran a great race, perhaps too well since his lack of pacing led him to suffer a heatstroke and stagger across the finish line in third place. Of course, Rio will be a very hot race and the youngest of the Brownlees naturally has cause for concern.
Turning to the women, the qualification process for 3 female champions didn’t fare much better than the male category. Nicola Spirig is currently recovering from a hand injury she received in Abu Dhabi. For an athlete of her caliber, this will hold some serious complications in swimming. Sweden’s Norden snatched the Olympic nomination at the last moments because of a controversial decision by the Swedish Olympic Committee, which granted her a kind of wild card since the results obtained over the past two years didn’t meet the criteria for qualification. She doesn’t have a great chance of winning a medal, since her form has not met requirements for the past four years. Finally, our last athlete Erin Densham — like Norden— barely passed the Australian Federation requirements. A medal in Rio isn’t completely out of the question for her though. Though Rio will be difficult, Erin is a strong cyclist, so we’ll see what kind of performance she delivers.
Back to the men, let’s take a look at Spanish winner Mola, winner of the race in Abu Dhabi, the Gold Coast, and Yokohama. Mola has focused even more intensely in swimming, a decision that has paid off considering that his time is currently unbeatable. He has a considerable advantage especially since his number one rival, South African Murray, broke his collarbone in a fall during the Gold Coast race. Another anticipated favorite is Frenchman Luis, who has strategically not entered the race yet. Will his late entrance be an advantage for him?
Finally, I’d like to say a few words about Norwegian athlete Blummenfelt, who won the World Cup in Cagliari and was third in the WTS in Yokohama, many speculate that he could win a medal in Rio. Given his dramatic improvements over the past few months, he may very well be one of the surprises in the Olympics.
In the women’s division, super favorite Gwen Jorghensen with 17 straight wins showed no sign of abating prior to Yokohama, but tasted defeat on the Gold Coast when she couldn’t keep up with an attack from cyclists Flora Duffy, Helen Jenkins, and Andrea Hewitt. For Gwen, this is an important wake-up call. Rio will be harder and she will have to step up her game and pedal harder. On the other hand, what we’ve seen in cycling with athletes like Jenkins and Hewitt was a great performance that certainly makes for stiff competition for an Olympic medal in Rio.
Andrea Gabba
