Golden age

A FEW months ago, Olympic triathlete Alistair Brownlee could be found jogging in a hastily-constructed pool at his home in the village of Bramhope near Leeds as he attempted to fight his way back from an achilles injury.

Yesterday, in front of a crowd of tens of thousands in London’s Hyde Park, those solitary hours of hard work paid off as he crossed the finish line to claim gold and Britain’s first ever triathlon medal.

The fact that his younger brother Jonny joined him on the podium with a bronze, earned in spite of the handicap of a 15-second time penalty, will have made the moment all the sweeter.

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The brilliant Brownlee brothers did Yorkshire proud on a day which added further lustre to the county’s astonishing performance at the Games.

Indeed, such is the haul of medals collected by our sportsmen and women that on its own Yorkshire would be lying near the very top of the medals table, eclipsing the entire teams of traditional rivals such as Australia.

London 2012 may well go down as a high-water mark for Britain at the modern day Olympics – and Yorkshire’s astounding contribution to that 
success will live long in the memory.