The Olympic triumphs of Alex Yee and Beth Potter can inspire the next generation of British triathletes of all ages, says Mike Cavendish, Performance Director of British Triathlon.
Potter took an impressive bronze medal in the women’s race before Yee followed with gold, winning with a stunning sprint past New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde. Britain’s Kate Waugh, Georgia Taylor-Brown and Sam Dickinson also competed at the Paris 2024 Games, impressively demonstrating Britain’s strength in the City of Lights.
“It was just a fantastic day,” said Cavendish. “Of course we go to every competition with the hope of being successful and winning a medal, but it’s the Olympics.”
“It was just a great day all round, Beth was obviously absolutely fantastic. She was over the moon, you know, moving from one sport to another, winning an Olympic medal is an incredible achievement.
“The fact that Alex won gold was incredible, but I think it was more the manner in which he won gold that surprised everyone and just created a fantastic story and spectacle for the sport.”
Cavendish hopes that the two exciting races have inspired those at home to swim, cycle and run as part of the British Triathlon’s Paris Inspired programme.
Paris Inspired will be offering a range of free activities over the next few months, including family-friendly and adult-focused classes. Swim Bike Run Mini combines two or three triathlon disciplines in one event setting, and Swim Bike Run Develop are supervised classes to build confidence in each discipline.
Bringing the medal success of Paris to people across the UK is also something British Triathlon is hoping to achieve this summer, says Cavendish, with its free Paris Inspired activities and national network of clubs and events central to this.
“Now it’s our job to really capitalise on that and get kids into triathlon clubs, get them swimming, cycling and running, because that’s ultimately what we’re here for.
“The opportunity to then tell these stories and tell the little kids on the street watching or the kids at home that they are just a fantastic advertisement for our sport.”
Triathlon is a combination of swimming, cycling and running. There are numerous opportunities to combine two or three of the disciplines at family-friendly Swim Bike Run Mini events and supervised Swim Bike Run Develop sessions.
Yee and Potter’s successes were notable given their different paths into the sport: Potter first represented the British team at the 2016 Rio Olympics as part of the 10,000m athletics team.
New Olympic champion Yee also came from a predominantly running background, but tried all three disciplines from a young age. Cavendish stressed the need to look beyond traditional triathlon circles to both find the very best athletes and increase community participation.
He added: “Unfortunately, there is only a very, very small percentage of them who go on to become elite triathletes, an even smaller number who compete in the Olympics and an even smaller number who win an Olympic medal. These are the people we obviously want to find.
“We want to make sure that we inspire young kids on the side of the road or in a swimming club or running club or any of those sports to try triathlon. To get them to go to their local club or their local event and try it for the first time. No matter how old they are, it’s not too late. No matter what sport they do, it’s not too late.”
“On the other hand, it’s more about seeing people on the street doing something outdoors that anyone can do, that’s easily accessible and hopefully inspires one or two people to get up off the sofa and go running for the first time, just get active, whether that’s swimming, cycling or running. That’s hugely important for us as an association, I think it’s really important for us as a country for the lifestyle that we all lead today.”
The triathlon is a unification of the country’s three biggest civic activities – helping people swim, cycle and run – and Cavendish sees this as part of the legacy of this summer’s success.
“It’s not just about creating a legacy to hopefully have the next Alex Yee or Beth Potter in 20 years. It’s just as much about motivating people to be active and getting them to enjoy being active in one of the three disciplines or a combination of the three disciplines that are part of triathlon.”
Triathlon England is supporting clubs and organisers to run free events and activities as part of the Paris Inspired campaign to give more people the chance to try swimming, cycling and running. https://www.britishtriathlon.org/the-games/paris-inspired
