Triathlon at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Summer Games

With no changes from the 2012 Olympics, the triathlon in Rio 2016 consisted of two individual events, one for men and one for women. Both were held at Fort Copacabana, at the southern end of Rio’s iconic beach. The swim consisted of a 1.5km open water swim in the Atlantic Ocean. This was followed by the 40km cycling element, which saw the competitors cover an eight lap circuit going inland and back to the sea-front, followed by a 10km run over four laps of a 2.5km circuit along the promenade adjacent to the Copacabana.

Azerbaijan, Barbados, Israel and Jordan all made their triathlon debút in Rio, and Britain’s [Alistair Brownlee] made history as the first triathlete to retain an Olympic title in what was a family ‘one-two’ as his younger brother [Jonny] won the silver medal. Switzerland’s [Nicola Spirig Hug] also claimed her own piece of history as the first female triathlete to win two Olympic medals. Switzerland and Great Britain became the leading Olympic triathlon nations, each with two gold medals, one silver and two bronze. [Bárbara Riveros] of Chile finished fifth, the highest ever finish by a South American triathlete at the Olympics.