Brothers apply added sheen to Yorkshire glory

Alistair and Jonny made history as the first British brothers to win individual medals in the same 
Olympic event since 1900.

Alistair gets the glory for the way in which he won gold in the men’s triathlon, sprinting away from the field before milking the acclaim of the Hyde Park crowd by strolling across the line draped in a Union flag.

Jonny gets the respect of the whole nation for sticking with his brother as long as he could and then fighting back from a time penalty to clinch bronze.

That he then collapsed moments after crossing the finish line, and needed 45 minutes to recover before striding onto the podium, says everything about how this pair ran themselves into the ground to achieve their Olympic goal.

In a Games overloaded with British heroes, these two Yorkshiremen are right up there with the best.

The phenomenally hard-working, amiable brothers gave London 2012 yet more drama and yet more cause for national pride.

The manner in which Jonny greeted his misfortune, both the penalty and the collapse, illustrates the nature of these very grounded young men.

“I heard them call it on No 31 and I thought Alistair’s got a penalty, what an idiot,” said Jonny of the 15-second penalty meted out to him for mounting his bike too early in the first transition.

“I didn’t realise I’d done anything wrong. Then I looked down at my arm and realised I was the No 31.

“My first thought was ‘that’s a shame, oh well. I’ll have to run even faster now and it might make it interesting’.”

There is no doubting it increased the drama. That Jonny finished 20 seconds behind Spain’s silver medallist Javier Gomez ensured controversy did not cast its shadow over this enthralling triathlon, contested by 55 super-human individuals. So hard had the front three run that Jonny collapsed just 10 minutes after completing the race.

It was only two years ago that Alistair dropped to the floor in Hyde Park after pushing himself to the very limit.

That day, their mother Cath, a doctor, sprang from the grandstand and rushed down the home straight to her son’s aid.

This time, Jonny was out of the spotlight and over-heating in a room when the drama unfolded.

“After the finish I collapsed. I felt awful as I crossed the line, it was quite hot out there,” said the 22-year-old. “I got into the tent afterwards and I felt worse and worse. I overheated and I collapsed.

“That’s part of triathlon, it’s a hard sport. Alistair had his turn two years ago and now it’s my turn.

“My mum came into the tent, she was officially told she could this time – she didn’t have to run down the finish line.

“They covered me in ice and towels. We have raced all over the world, and in other countries the medical staff are not as good as they are here. I’m feeling much better now, a bit tired, but you’re tired after a race anyway.”

Bronze for Jonny, in the circumstances, was a real triumph, but for Alistair the Olympic title underscores his status as the best triathlete of the current era.

Already a two-time world and European champion, he came into London 2012 with huge pressure on his shoulders.

His Olympics were in doubt after suffering an Achilles injury at the start of the year, but after building a pool in his back garden so he could aqua jog to hasten his recovery, he was back in action by May.

“I’ve got hundreds of emotions,” said Alistair who won gold in a time of 1hr 46mins 25secs.

“Happy, excited, overwhelmed – a bit of relief in there as well.

“Obviously coming into a race as favourite in a home Olympics has been tough.

“We had a strategy to try to distance ourselves from the Olympics a little bit. But that was very difficult to do.

“But it was fantastic (yesterday), everything went right, apart from Jonny’s penalty, and I couldn’t have asked for any more.

“I was surprised how good (silver medallist) Javier Gomez was, he’s not had a race like that ever.

“It was great to battle with him but I felt pretty good and I felt like I had the upper hand.

“I had a very fast 800m-1,000m in me, I was pretty comfortable as long as he couldn’t stick with me.

“I’m immensely proud that my brother got bronze. We made no secret of the fact that we wanted to get two of us on the podium and that’s not an easy thing to do considering this country has never won a medal in this sport before and all the things that can go wrong. For one of you to take a penalty as well.

“We gave it everything. It shows the strength of training together, pushing each other on all the time, and the relationship that we have.”

“It’s very unreal,” said proud mother Cath.

“You don’t think that those boys running through that line and winning those medals are your sons.”

Their father Keith, also a doctor, said he was experiencing a “whole load of mixed emotions”.

“Pride, elation, relief,” he said. “It’s just wonderful.”

He added: “I think the stress in the run-up to this has been massive so they’ve done well, they’ve done really well.

“We are very proud of them.”

Bond of brothers: Page 22.