Triathlon: Dream start in sight for Aussie trio

SYDNEY - The scenario goes like this. At 12.45pm on Saturday (1.45pm NZ time), three blonde-haired Australian women will mount the podiums in front of the Sydney Opera House.

Then, with the famous harbour dazzling in the background, the first medals of the 2000 Olympics will be placed around their necks. Gold, silver, bronze; one, two, three. A clean sweep for the host nation.

Fantasy? Far from it. Women's triathlon is the first medal event of the Games, and Australia's three contenders - Michellie Jones, Loretta Harrop and Nicole Hackett - top the world rankings.

Difficult to beat anywhere, they will be competing on a familiar course, with a home crowd of 150,000 yelling its support.

What better way for Australia to start the Olympics, launching its quest for 60 medals in a blaze of glory while showcasing Sydney at its most scenic.

If the dream comes true, it will be no happy coincidence. Sydney has been plotting this day for a decade.

Mindful of triathlon's popularity in Australia, its bid document urged the International Olympic Committee to adopt it as an Olympic sport.

When the IOC agreed in 1994, organisers then successfully lobbied for women's triathlon to inaugurate the Games. A more picturesque setting for an Olympic debut can hardly be imagined.

The first leg, a 1500-metre swim, takes place in the harbour, just east of the Opera House, while the 40-kilometre cycle race and the 10km run wind through the nearby Royal Botanic Gardens and along the harbour foreshore.

It is a highly demanding sport, and the Sydney course is tough. The harbour is a frigid 15C in September and can be choppy.

The run is hilly and so is the cycle leg, which has technically challenging narrow sections and sharp corners.

And then there are the sharks. Or are there? Stories have proliferated about sharks lying in wait for a juicy triathlete, although there has not been a shark attack in Sydney between May and November for 208 years.

Nevertheless, competitors will be escorted by scuba divers with shark-repellent sonar devices strapped to their legs.

If the shark factor has been played up by triathlon promoters in order to boost the sport's profile, as many people suspect, it has certainly done the trick.

For competitors, the sharks are a joke. Rob Barel, the veteran Dutch triathlete, said: "We really like the shark stories because they give us so much attention. People will be watching to see if there's blood in the water."

Triathlon was born in the United States in the 1970s and has its roots in the gruelling Iron Man endurance test in which participants swam 2.4 miles, cycled 112 miles and ran 26.2 miles in one day.

In Australia, triathlon took off in the early 1990s, helped by the gentle climate and outdoor lifestyle.

Michellie Jones says: "We Aussies, we love getting in there and having a go, and that's what triathlon is about."

Success breeds success, and there is now such a deep pool of talent that, in the case of the women, Olympic selection was a nightmare.

Emma Carney, who missed out, waged a fruitless four-month legal battle. Other women have switched allegiances.

The English-born Michelle Dillon, drafted in as third member of the British team to replace the injured Julie Dibens, has spent most of her life in Sydney and represented Australia in the 10,000m at the 1994 Commonwealth Games.

Spectators who love triathlon should enjoy it while they can. On trial in Sydney, its status will be reviewed after the Games and insiders say that the IOC's commitment to the sport is lukewarm.

- INDEPENDENT