Paris triathlon: Alex Yee believes success on Seine can leave the right legacy
Alex Yee says the decision for the triathlon events to go ahead in Paris proved correct and hopes the showcase leaves the mark it deserves
With a gold and bronze medal from Paris to add to his gold and silver medal from Tokyo, Alex Yee has now won more Olympic triathlon medals than anyone else.
Hailing from a country that produced the Brownlee brothers, Alistair and Jonny, that is quite some achievement, but Yee is also evolving into a spokesperson for the sport that is wise beyond his years.
“Fundamentally we need clean water to do our competition,” Yee commented, having led out the first leg of the mixed team relay, “I think the French government have been proactive and we’ve had two days where we’ve been able to swim in clean water. They can be immensely proud of that.
“We have a choice. We can be like: ‘We’re not going to race and take ourselves out of the competition. Or we can be professional, listen to the advice that has been given and take precautions, but trust the information we’ve been given.
“Team GB has left with three Olympic triathlon medals [Yee’s two plus Beth Potter‘s bronze] and we couldn’t be prouder of the team, British Triathlon and all the guys who have worked hard behind us.”
“I’m still the same bloke”
Yee’s success, particularly the individual victory on Wednesday should only serve to build his profile moving forward, but he doesn’t believe it will faze him.
“I’m still the same bloke, enjoying my sport and hopefully the most rewarding thing for me is that we’ve inspired a new generation to take up our sport and fall in love with the Olympics, like we all did when we were younger.
“Looking at the crowds lining the streets and seeing a lot of smiles on faces because we’ve put on a hell of a spectacle could be really good for the sport and the Olympics and that’s really special.”
British Triathlon performance director Mike Cavendish echoed that despite the well-publicised challenges, the organisers had picked the right venue and delivered a wonderful show.
“I think if you look around at the people on the side of the course and the spectacle that has been delivered across three races, I think it was the right decision,” he said.
“In an ideal world we would have liked to have had swim familiarisations and not have the men’s race delayed, but I think it’s the product that matters the most in the end.
“Yes, there are lessons to be learned by everybody but had there been a reserre venue and they’d moved it to somewhere completely different and outside the centre of Paris, you wouldn’t have had this unbelieveable spectacle.
“We came down this morning and they were three to four deep at 5am. That’s what it will be remembered for. People will forget about the water.”
What about keeping the organisers keeping athletes guessing as to whether racing would take place? “They were trying to give us the best chance of racing. Yes, they left it late, but it’s not like we’re not used to that.
“I think they did as good a job as they could do bearing in mind that they’ve also had a lot more rain than you would normally have at this time of the year, so they were dealing with difficult circumstances.”
While Cavendish has stated previously that he refuses to set medal targets, winning three more to take GB’s overall total to 11 was viewed as an outstanding success.
“If you’d have said to me before we came in that we would have three medals, I’d have bitten your arm off. It’s a fantastic set of results. That’s now three medals for the third Games in a row and there’s no other country anywhere near that so I think we should be very proud.”
Tim Heming
Freelance triathlon journalist 
