Triathlon has arrived

By TERRY JONES -- Edmonton Sun
 SYDNEY - On a scale of 10, triathlon just went from a two to a nine back home as a result of the spectacular show here and Simon Whitfield's first gold of the Games for Canada.

 And the World Triathlon Championships in Edmonton next summer just went from being a sideshow to the World Championships In Athletics to a stand- alone main-stage show of its own.

 "I have the medal and I hope this is great for triathlon in Canada,'' said Whitfield.

  "I want people to know you can do anything you set your mind to. This is great for our sport.''

 Not just in Canada. Here. There. Everywhere.

 "Triathlon is an amazing sport and now the world knows it,'' said Australia silver medal-winner Michellie Jones.

 "The crowd was unbelievable for both events. My ears are still ringing,'' she said of the 100,000 fans who watched her swim, cycle and run Friday.

 There were 150,000 and maybe more to watch Whitfield win yesterday (Sunday in Australia).

 Now the world knows

 "I know in Australia parents are already saying, 'I want my kids to go to the Olympic Games to do triathlon.'

 '`The rest of the world will do the same,'' said Jones.

 Now the world knows about it, indeed.

 Now the world knows Simon Whitfield, and Stephan Vuckovic and Jan Rehula, the men who shared the spaces on either side with Whitfield on the podium.

 Now the world knows about Jones and Brigitte McMahon, the Swiss miss who ran shoulder-to-shoulder with her around this spectacular course at Sydney Harbour to win the gold, and Magali Messmer of Switzerland who completed the podium picture.

 And now that other Edmonton 2001 has a profile it didn't have three days ago.

 "It's absolutely fantastic what this has done for our sport and our event,'' said Sheila O'Kelly, the executive director of the Edmonton Worlds.

 "Most important, maybe, is that it captured the Worlds media.''

 Crashing Canadians isn't what you wanted to see yesterday.

 But agony of defeat comes before thrill of victory.

 A race director at several world championships and the executive director of the Edmonton Worlds, O'Kelly says Montgomery is dead wrong with her comments about the Sydney course.

 "This course is safe. Crashes are a part of this sport. Crash corners are prime viewing areas. Her crash happened on the straight as a result of a girl losing control of her bike.''

 It's like auto racing.

 "Crashes are sensational,'' said O'Kelly.

 "The crashes were part of what made this event such a huge hit on television.''

 Triathlon wasn't ready to handle the interest here. Only 200 written media positions were available for the race. I was one of only six Canadians accredited when 20 wanted to cover it.

 '`It was an absolute farce from our end of it.

 On the other hand only three Canadian journalists chose to be here for the men's event - myself, an Ottawa writer and a Toronto writer.

 There will be many, many more than that from around the country for the event next year in Hawrelak Park when Whitfield takes his Olympic victory lap in front of Canadian fans.

 "We now have to be prepared for a whole different scale of media event next year,'' said O'Kelly.

 Charging only $20 for tickets in the 5,000 seats and letting everybody else in free is still going to be the concept, even if that seems ridiculous after what happened here.

 WANTED: 50,000 fans

 "Our goal is to get 50,000 fans in there come hell or high water,'' said O'Kelly.

 "We'll cover the $3.4-million budget with profile sponsorship which just got a lot easier to sell and from the festival end of it,'' she said of beer gardens, food fair and the like.

 Kelly says Edmonton wants to create the kind of scene they had here "without the Sydney Opera House in the background'' to make sure the sport takes another step forward after the giant leap that it took here.

 "What I think really happened here is that triathlon became the new sport of the new millennium,'' said O'Kelly.

 She might be right.