Whitfield and Docherty become only triathletes to win multiple Olympic medals

Beijing, China (August 19, 2008) - German athlete Jan Frodeno unleashed a brilliantly timed sprint to take the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games gold medal in a time of 1:48:53.

"Previously this year I have lost all my races very closely in sprints," Frodeno said of his dramatic turnaround in sprinting form. "And one thing that does is that it teaches you a lesson. So I learnt if for the right time I guess."

Frodeno's sprint in the stifling conditions was too hot for Canadian Simon Whitfield who claimed the silver medal five seconds behind, and New Zealand's Bevan Docherty who took the bronze medal 12 seconds back.

Pre-race favourite and form athlete of the last two years Spaniard Javier Gomez just fell short of the medals finishing in fourth 20 seconds behind the German.

Around the u-turn at the far end of the course, Whitfield opened up the sprint to test the hearts of his competition. Only Frodeno could respond. Docherty ran valiantly ahead of a fast fading Gomez.

Whitfield looked in control of the sprint but Frodeno started to gain on him quickly. With 50 meters to go Frodeno has passed and dispensed with the Canadian who had nothing left.

Whitfield had beaten a German close to the line in Sydney 2000 for the gold medal, now the Germans had their revenge. Frodeno powered through the line.

"I had gone over it a hundred if not a thousand times in my head," Frodeno said of the race, "especially in the last few days. I slept about two hours last night just going over scenarios and I knew I'd trained pretty well. These three guys that were with me in the front, they are really the big three guys. I tried to focus and not read their names and kind of focus on my own race. When Simon went I knew it was going to be hard and I just had to fight and fight."

Silver medallist Whitfield was gracious in defeat, saying: "I kind of fought my way back on there and thought there was no time like the present. So I went for that sprint on the outside and then tried to make it a battle of purely will power. As soon as Jan came with me and stayed in contact I knew I was in a little bit of trouble. I wish you hadn't learnt so much from all those other sprints this year. I gave it all I had and Jan just kept on coming. What a spectacular performance from him."

Beijing 2008 Olympic Games - Men's Triathlon Final Results
1.5km swim, 40km bike, 10km run
Gold - Jan Frodeno (GER)
Silver - Simon Whitfield (CAN)
Bronze - Bevan Docherty (NZL)
4th - Javier Gomez (ESP)
5th - Ivan Rana (ESP)
6th - Daniel Unger (GER)
7th - Hunter Kemper (USA)
8th - Rasmus Henning (DEN)
9th - Igor Sysoev (RUS)
10th - Frederic Belaubre (FRA)
Visit triathlon.org for full race report, photos and full field results

About International Triathlon Union (ITU):
The International Triathlon Union is the world governing body for the Olympic sport of Triathlon and all related MultiSport disciplines: Duathlon, Aquathlon and Winter Triathlon. ITU was founded in 1989 at the first ITU Congress in Avignon, France and has maintained its headquarters in Vancouver, Canada since then. It now has over 120 affiliated National Federations around the world and is the youngest International Federation in the Olympics. Triathlon was awarded Olympic status in 1994. ITU is proudly committed to supporting the development of the sport worldwide through strong relationships with continental and national federations, working with its partners to offer a balanced sport development programme from grassroots to a high-performance level. For more information, visit: www.triathlon.org