New seeds are sown by Whitfield

Sydney welcomed the athletes of the inaugural Olympic triathlon with open arms over the weekend. Some 300,000 people lined the streets on Sunday morning for the men's event, spurred by the thrilling close to the women's race on Saturday, in which local favourite Michellie Jones took second.

It is easy to see why Australians are so taken with the sport. In many ways, it reflects their character, a no-frills, hard as nails, rugged competition that offers no hiding place. The sun was already heating the tar by the time the athletes zoomed down Marquerie Hill during the six-lap cycle at around 11 a.m. (local time) yesterday morning, savage intent ripped across their faces.

Watching them, it was hard to fathom that these men had lives beyond working towards this event, difficult to comprehend that they also work as police officers, clerks, bankers, whatever. It is impossible to see that anything could interrupt their obsession.

"I always wanted to be the best in the world at something and if it was tiddly winks, that would be fine," said the eventual winner, Canadian Simon Whitfield.

It would also have been a hell of a lot easier. Whitfield is typical of the breed devoted to this discipline. Since the age of 14, he has been training for it, spending whatever free hours he had climbing hills and playing soccer and adventuring. He said he was drawn to the triathlon because of the challenge it presented and, since moving to Sydney, he worked solely towards these games.

"Australia taught me about competitiveness and pride - I'm deeply proud to be Canadian but part of my heart is here in Australia. I've been saying this all week: all I want to hear is my anthem. I heard it and it just cracked me."

Others cracked much earlier. Although the group of 50 was fairly tightly bunched after the initial 1,500 metre swim, with Sydney Opera House as a glorious backdrop, they began to spread over the gruelling 40 kilometre bike ride. World champion Olivier Marceau and Russian Conrad Stoltz made an early break and put almost a minute between themselves and the pack.

But it was at the rear of the group that life was most interesting. Trailing further behind and clearly exhausted were two lone stragglers, not racing a triathlon any more, just fighting themselves. They roused the crowd as much as home favourite Craig Walton. Half way through the cycle, Brisbane based British competitor Andrew Johns threw in the towel, parched and exhausted. Less than an hour after his Olympics began, he found himself sitting on the steps of an ambulance, his body shattered, spirit spent, with just the medics and a dozen photographers for company. This was as far away from Ian Thorpe land as you could imagine.

Back at the business end, the 10 kilometre run threw up a number of surprises. The famed road speed of British contender Simon Lessing was never a factor as Marceau began tiring, his lead evaporating.

Instead, Stephan Vuckovic emerged as the man most likely to take his sport's first Olympic gold, bursting beyond Marceau. Vuckovic, a business student from Germany led until the closing straight when Whitfield made a late burst, mirroring the finish to the women's event.

Far from disconsolate with the Canadian's late rush for gold, Vuckovic was clearly ecstatic with his own performance and his memorable dance across the finish line while brandishing his home flag could well become one of the defining images of these Olympics.

"At kilometre nine, I knew now I had to attack because in a sprint finish, I don't have any chance against him. And then 500 metres in front of the finish, I saw him behind me and I said, `okay, goodbye, see you later'," he laughed. "Simon is a good friend and to lose to a friend is not so bad."

The triathlon has come along way since its conception in San Diego in 1974. Yesterday in Sydney cast it in its most glorious light and vindicated the decision to add it to the list of events. Come Athens, the sport may well have a much higher profile.

"I don't know about the future," said Whitfield, "but for the next two weeks it will be one big party."

While the home crowd was disappointed that Michelle Jones hadn't managed Australia's first gold on Saturday morning, the athlete herself was just delighted to be on the podium with a silver medal. "As we were walking towards the pontoon stand, my husband was crying," she said. "It's the first time I have ever seen an Olympic medal. I felt very, very proud. And I think that we really showed that triathlon is an Olympic sport."

Swiss winner Briggitte McMahon was philosophical about her wonderful chase at the close of the run, which saw her eclipse Jones' assault on gold.

"I wasn't picturing myself in the lead," she said. "I was just picturing myself being happy. When I saw the finish line, I thought, `this is it, just go like hell'."

And she did.