Rio Olympics 2016: Alistair Brownlee’s latest triathlon triumph confirms him as Team GB’s greatest ever endurance athlete
ARISE, Alistair Brownlee - King of Pain in British sport.
Few can dispute Alistair's all-time standing after becoming the only man to win successive Olympic triathlon crowns.
Alistair Brownlee revels in winning his second successive Olympic triathlon title
The 28-year-old also has two world titles and three European crowns. plus two world golds in the team event.
Brother Jonny, 26, who beat his own London 2012 bronze with silver in Rio. is a two-time world sprint triathlon champion.
But Alistair's gruelling glory in the heat of Brazil confirms his status at the summit of sporting endurance.
Olympic triathletes swim 1.5km, cycle 40km cycle and then run 10km.
And after looking in comfortable command during the open-water jaunt from Copacabana Beach, the Brownlees were part of a 10-man group who pulled away from the field on their bikes.
Then back on land Alistair eventually ran to victory, six seconds ahead of Jonny.
Just to show how tough this event can be, Spain's world No 1 Mario Mola, winner of four ITU World Series events this year, trailed in eighth, a minute adrift of the Brownlees.
Britain's third contender, Gordon Benson, failed to finish after crashing on the seventh of eight laps cycling.
These fluctuating fortunes show how Alistair has defied the unpredictability of such a long-haul, multi-discipline event.
Such physical extremes contrast with the Brownlees' laidback younger brother Ed, 20, a rugby prop-forward who claimed as a schoolboy that he could always beat his better-known and ultra-competitive bruvs at table tennis.
Alistair and Jonny even say Ed is the tough one of the family - and could literally push them around if he wanted to.
But nobody pushes Alistair around where it matters most to him. In the sea, on the saddle, and in that final 10km run of hunger and dedication.
