The women’s triathlon begins tonight at 10pm EST and the men’s race is at the same time tomorrow night.  All but a few of the top ranked are here to compete for an olympic medal.  I’ve assembled some articles about the triathlon, the course, maps and the venue that I found interesting. 

It has been difficult finding elevations for all of the cycling events from the Beijing Olympics and this race has been no different.  I did find a chart with elevation values at a series of points on the 6.55km loop and put together a profile. 

I’ve also included the start list but have ordered in in ITU rank order.  That way it is more clear who is likely to be in contention for a medal.  Looking at the chart, I would argue that the US women have a far greater shot at a medal than the men.  Two of the three US women are ranked top 10 where all the US men are ranked south of 25. 

Articles
Team USA – Women’s Triathlon
ITU Women’s Race Overview
Matt Reed Overview for Colorado Runner Magazine
Olympic Men’s Triathlon Article from the Kentucky Herald/Leader
CBC.CA Provides a Nice Triathlon Venue Overview
Telegraph.co.uk Article about Great Britain’s Chances

Triathlon Course
Triathlon.Org Satellite Image of Triathlon Course
Map Google Earth Link
Nice New York Times Interactive Overview of the Triathlon Course with video from Jarrod Shoemaker

Triathlon Cycling Elevation Profile

2008 Olympic Triathlon Elevation Profile

2008 Olympic Triathlon Elevation Profile

Video Interviews

Sarah Haskins Interview

Julie Swail Interview

Hunter Kemper Interview

Olympic Triathlon Women’s Start List
Start Number, Name, Country, ITU Rank

Start Number Name Country ITU Rank
54 FERNANDES Vanessa Portugal 1
27 WARRINER Sam New Zealand 2
34 SNOWSILL Emma Australia 3
33 MOFFATT Emma Australia 4
26 TANNER Debbie New Zealand 5
42 HASKINS Sarah USA 6
40 BENNETT Laura USA 7
3 DITTMER Anja Germany 8
25 HEWITT Andrea New Zealand 11
8 SPIRIG Nicola Switzerland 12
20 GROVES Lauren Canada 13
56 MAY Elizabeth Holst Luxembourg 14
9 HARRISON Jessica France 15
6 Di MARCO Magali Switzerland 16
4 LISK Ricarda Germany 17
32 DENSHAM Erin Australia 19
10 PEON Carole France 20
12 DOLLINGER Eva Austria 21
16 NIWATA Kiyomi Japan 22
17 UEDA Ai Japan 23
15 IDE Juri Japan 25
50 NORDEN Lisa Sweden 27
41 SWAIL-ERTEL Julie USA 29
5 PILZ Christiane Germany 30
7 RYF Daniela Switzerland 31
22 TREMBLAY Kathy Canada 32
21 MURRAY Carolyn Canada 34
23 FRINTOVA Vendula Czech Repubic 35
31 TUCKER Helen Great Britain 36
38 MURUA Ainhoa Spain 37
51 ABYSOVA Irina Russian Fed. 39
47 ROBERTS Kate South Africa 40
48 OHATA Mariana Brazil 41
14 HAIBOECK Tania Austria 42
24 ZEMANOVA Lenka Czech Repubic 44
37 BURGOS Ana Spain 45
11 ALLEN Kate Austria 46
46 RABIE Mari South Africa 47
19 DEDERKO Ewa Poland 50
53 DAVIS Emma Ireland 51
44 XING Lin China 52
39 MENSINK Lisa Netherlands 54
18 CZESNIK Maria Poland 57
43 SAPUNOVA Yuliya Ukraine 58
52 ZAUSAYLOVA Olga Russian Fed. 59
28 DUFFY Flora Bermuda 62
1 BONIN Charlotte Italy 64
30 AVIL Hollie Great Britain 67
2 CHMET Daniela Italy 68
36 SZABO Zita Livia Hungary 70
29 CORONA Adriana Faviola Mexico 76
35 RIVEROS Barbara Chile 108
45 ZHANG Yi China 121
49 MAK So Ning Tania China 191
55 DIMAKI Nteniz Marina Greece 286

 

Olympic Triathlon Men’s Start List

Start Number Name Country ITU Rank
30 GOMEZ Francisco Javier Spain 1
27 DOCHERTY Bevan New Zealand 2
12 KAHLEFELDT Brad Australia 3
16 WHITFIELD Simon Canada 4
28 GEMMELL Kris New Zealand 5
37 DON Tim Great Britain 6
19 POLIKARPENKO Volodymyr Ukraine 7
38 BELAUBRE Frederic France 8
32 FRODENO Jan Germany 11
45 RIEDERER Sven Switzerland 12
36 CLARKE Will Great Britain 14
34 UNGER Daniel Germany 15
39 MOULAI Tony France 17
15 TICHELAAR Paul Canada 18
43 HUG Reto Switzerland 19
31 RANA Ivan Spain 20
26 SYSOEV Igor Russian Fed. 21
24 BRYUKHANKOV Alexander Russian Fed. 22
42 OSPALY Filip Czech Republic 24
23 SHOEMAKER Jarrod USA 25
54 PAIS Bruno Portugal 26
22 REED Matty USA 27
5 TAYAMA Hirokatsu Japan 28
44 MARCEAU Olivier Switzerland 29
25 POLYANSKIY Dmitriy Russian Fed. 31
11 ATKINSON Courtney Australia 33
40 VIDAL Laurent France 37
29 REED Shane New Zealand 38
49 JASKOLKA Marek Poland 41
41 HENNING Rasmus Denmark 42
10 FONTANA Daniel Italy 43
7 COLUCCI Reinaldo Brazil 44
52 SAPUNOV Daniil Kazakhstan 49
21 KEMPER Hunter USA 50
17 CROES Peter Belgium 52
53 MARQUES Duarte Portugal 55
18 ZEEBROEK Axel Belgium 57
6 YAMAMOTO Ryosuke Japan 58
2 BERK Sander Netherlands 59
47 AGOSTON Simon Austria 61
4 ALBERT Marko Estonia 64
55 BOCKEL Dirk Luxembourg 66
9 D’AQUINO Emilio Italy 67
8 MOREIRA Jr. Juraci Brazil 68
1 GLUSCHENKO Andriy Ukraine 69
51 KUTTOR Csaba Hungary 72
14 JENKINS Colin Canada 80
35 BROWNLEE Alistair Great Britain 84
33 PROCHNOW Christian Germany 89
50 LEE Chi-Wo Daniel 92
3 SERRANO Francisco Mexico 96
20 FELGATE Christopher Zimbabwe 102
48 TAYARA Omar Syrian 104
46 SIMKO Pavel Slovakia 141
56 WANG Daqing China 168

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