Rio Olympics: Great Britain's Brownlee brothers take gold, silver in triathlon
Alistair Brownlee became the first back-to-back Olympic gold medalist in men's triathlon
By
Chris Peters
•
1 min read
After winning the gold medal in men's triathlon on home turf/water at the 2012 London Olympics, Great Britain's Alistair Brownlee became the first triathlete to go back-to-back by winning gold in Rio de Janeiro. Right on Brownlee's heels, however, was his brother Jonathan, who improved on his bronze medal in London with silver in Rio.
Jonathan, 26, finished six seconds behind his 28-year-old brother to upgrade his medal collection. Henri Schoeman of South Africa crossed the line 36 seconds behind the Brownlee boys to take the bronze, beating teammate Richard Murray by seven seconds.
Alistair Brownlee's lead at the end was so great that he was able to grab British and Yorkshire flags from the crowd and literally walk across the finish line. It also allowed Jonathan to close the gap a little more before the two collapsed on the other side of the finish line.
According to the Telegraph, the Brownlees are the first sibling pair to finish gold-silver since Piero and Raimondo D'Inzeo accomplished the feat in equestrian in 1960.
"I was pretty confident we would get first and second but I didn't know which way round it would be," Alistair told the BBC (via Eurosport).
"I just had the edge on Jonny but he has killed me in training and I have been going through hell. It has been so hard. I have woken up in pain every day."
Alistair Brownlee has staked his claim as perhaps the best male triathlete of all time. He has two world championships in addition to his two Olympic gold medals. He is also a three-time European champion and has been part of two team world championships as well.
