Triathlon has been an Olympic sport since its debut at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia.[1] Its inclusion in the Summer Olympic Games program was the quickest of any sport:[2] the International Triathlon Union (ITU) was founded in 1989 and five years later, on 4 September 1994, triathlon's Olympic status was approved by the 103rd International Olympic Committee Session, in Paris.[3] The variant contested at the Olympics (called Olympic distance) is composed of a 1500m (4,900feet) swim, followed by a 40km (30miles) bicycle race, and a final 100NaN0 run leg. The distances were chosen based on the resulting format to be a challenge for participants (sprint triathletes as well as endurance competitors) and entertaining for spectators all over the world.[4]
From 2000, the triathlon competition consisted of a men's and a women's event. A third event, the mixed medley relay involving four triathletes each covering the sprint distance, was introduced in 2021.[5] The inaugural women's event was the first to be contested during the Sydney Games, and crowned Swiss triathlete Brigitte McMahon as the first Olympic champion, over the heavy-favorite Australians.[6] The following day, Simon Whitfield of Canada, who was not considered one of the favorites, came from behind and took the men's gold medal with a 200-meter sprint finish.[7] In similar fashion, long-distance specialist Kate Allen of Austria secured the women's Olympic title in 2004.[8] New Zealand placed two male triathletes in the top two, as Hamish Carter and Bevan Docherty won the gold and silver medals, respectively.[9] At the 2008 Summer Olympics, Whitfield was on the verge of repeating his 2000 success, but failed to keep his lead over Jan Frodeno of Germany in the final meters, who pipped the Canadian to the gold medal.[10] The Australian power in women's triathlon was rewarded at the Beijing Games, when three-time world champion and favorite Emma Snowsill clinched the gold medal and Emma Moffatt secured the bronze.[11]
After securing a second career Olympic medal in Beijing, Simon Whitfield (one gold and one silver) and Bevan Docherty (one silver and one bronze) were the only triathletes to have won more than one Olympic medal.[10]
Despite having a number of world champions in the sport, before the home games of 2012, Great Britain had failed to win a single medal in the sport at Olympic level. This changed dramatically in 2012 itself when the Leeds-based brothers, Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee took gold and bronze in the men's individual event with a surging run, in the company of Spanish silver medalist Javier Gómez. In Rio 2016, the brothers both returned to the Olympic event, sweeping the podium with Alistar claiming gold and Jonathan silver. In the women's race, GB also made it to the podium with Nicola Spirig Hug claiming silver. The champion of the women's race that year was USA's Gwen Jorgensen, preventing GB from claiming gold in both events.
In 2021 at the delayed 2020 Summer Olympics, Jonathan Brownlee became the first triathlete to win three medals, help leading Great Britain to victory in the inaugural mixed relay event in a team composed of silver medalists Alex Yee and Georgia Taylor-Brown. These athletes joined the two-medal club along with Katie Zaferes of the United States.
In 2024, both races took place on the same day since the men's race, initially scheduled a day prior, was rescheduled due to poor water quality in the Seine. In the women's race, home favorite Cassandre Beaugrand took the women's title, claiming France's first Olympic medal in the sport on home soil. Switzerland's Julie Derron won silver, crossing the finish line right ahead of Beth Potter, who was one of the top seeds after winning the Paris test event in 2023. In the men's race, in a shocking finish closing a fifteen-second gap in the last 400m of the race,[12] Alex Yee claimed gold after passing a close rival, Hayden Wilde of New Zealand. France's Léo Bergère claimed bronze, the first male French medalist in the Olympic event.
| 2000 Sydney | |||
| 2004 Athens | |||
| 2008 Beijing | |||
| 2012 London | |||
| 2016 Rio | |||
| 2020 Tokyo | |||
| 2024 Paris[13] | |||
| 2000 Sydney | |||
| 2004 Athens | |||
| 2008 Beijing | |||
| 2012 London | |||
| 2016 Rio | |||
| 2020 Tokyo | |||
| 2024 Paris | |||
| Rank | Athlete | Nation | Olympics | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2020–2024 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |||
| 2 | 2012–2016 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |||
| 3 | 2012–2020 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | |||
| 2020–2024 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||||
| 5 | 2000–2008 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |||
| 2012–2016 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | ||||
| 7 | Cassandre Beaugrand | 2020–2024 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 8 | 2020–2024 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | |||
| 2020–2024 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | ||||
| 10 | Hayden Wilde | 2020–2024 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
| 2004–2008 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||
| 2020 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||||
| 13 | 2024 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |