Olympic history in triathlon

Triathlon has been an Olympic sport since its debut at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia. 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. The variant contested at the Olympics (called Olympic distance) is composed of a 1.5km swim, followed by a 40km bike portion and a final 10km run leg. Since 2000, the Olympic triathlon competition consists of a men’s and a women’s event.

World Triathlon Champions - Elite Men
World Triathlon Champions - Elite Women


Olympic Medallists - Individual Men

Games Gold Silver Bronze
2000 Sydney Simon Whitfield
Canada
Stephan Vuckovic
Germany
Jan Řehula
Czech Republic
2004 Athens Hamish Carter
New Zealand
Bevan Docherty
New Zealand
Sven Riederer
Switzerland
2008 Beijing Jan Frodeno
Germany
Simon Whitfield
Canada
Bevan Docherty
New Zealand
2012 London Alistair Brownlee
Great Britain
Javier Gómez Noya
Spain
Jonathan Brownlee
Great Britain
2016 Rio de Janeiro Alistair Brownlee
Great Britain
Jonathan Brownlee
Great Britain
Henri Schoeman
South Africa
2020 Tokyo Kristian Blummenfelt
Norway
Alex Yee
Great Britain
Hayden Wilde
New Zealand

 

Olympic Medallists - Individual Women

Games Gold Silver Bronze
2000 Sydney Brigitte McMahon
Switzerland
Michellie Jones
Australia
Magali Messmer
Switzerland
2004 Athens Kate Allen
Austria
Loretta Harrop
Australia
Susan Williams
United States
2008 Beijing Emma Snowsill
Australia
Vanessa Fernandes
Portugal
Emma Moffat
Australia
2012 London Nicola Spirig
Switzerland
Lisa Nordén
Sweden
Erin Densham
Australia
2016 Rio de Janeiro Gwen Jorgensen
United States
Nicola Spirig Hug
Switzerland
Vicky Holland
Great Britain
2020 Tokyo Flora Duffy
Bermuda
Georgia Taylor-Brown
Great Britain
Katie Zaferes
United States

Triathlon Mixed Relay

ITU’s Triathlon Mixed Relay format has brought racing at its most thrilling, where the individual sport combines with pure team spirit. Athletes must complete a super-sprint triathlon - 300m swim, 6.6km bike and 1km run - before tagging off to a teammate, always in the order female-male-female-male. Among the most exciting aspects of these races for spectators is the athletes’ dramatic sprint and dive after being tagged by their teammate, as well as the intensity and speed from start to finish, the tight back-and-forth lead changes and team pride that this innovative racing format elicits.
The very first ITU Triathlon Mixed Relay World Championships was held in Des Moines, Iowa, USA in 2009 when the Swiss Team claimed the World Crown. In 2013, the World Championships were hosted in the German city of Hamburg for the first time, where it has taken place annually ever since.
The entertaining format was soon embraced around the world and was included in major Games programmes such as the Youth Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games before, in 2017, it was announced that Triathlon Mixed Relay will make its Olympic debut at the Tokyo 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

Olympic Medallists - Triathlon Mixed Relay

Games Gold Silver Bronze
2020 Tokyo Great Britain United States France

Triathlon Statistics

Multiple Medallists

Rank Athlete Nation Olympics Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 Alistair Brownlee Great Britain 2012-2016 2 0 0 2
2 Simon Whitfield Canada 2000-2008 1 1 0 2
3 Nicola Spirig Switzerland 2012-2016 1 1 0 2
4 Jonathan Brownlee Great Britain 2012-2016 0 1 1 2
5 Bevan Docherty New Zealand 2004-2008 0 1 1 2


Triathlon Medals by NOC

NOC Gold Silver Bronze Total
Great Britain (GBR) 3 3 2 8
Switzerland (SUI) 2 1 2 5
Australia (AUS) 1 2 2 5
New Zealand (NZL) 1 1 2 4
United States (USA) 1 1 2 4
Canada (CAN) 1 1 0 2
Germany (GER) 1 1 0 2
Austria (AUT) 1 0 0 1
Bermuda (BER) 1 0 0 1
Norway (BER) 1 0 0 1
Portugal (POR) 0 1 0 1
Spain (ESP) 0 1 0 1
Sweden (SWE) 0 1 0 1
Czech Republic (CZE) 0 0 1 1
South Africa (RSA) 0 0 1 1
France (FRA) 0 0 1 1