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yesilay.org.tr

YEŞiLAY

SPRING 2015

33

THE HISTORY OF TRIATHLON

Various challenging races are organized in Honolulu, the

state capital of Hawaii. The 3.800-meter long swimming

marathon held along Honolulu Beach, 180-km long

cycling race and 42 kilometers and 195 meters of running

marathon organized around the island are some of the

leading races.

In 1977, John Collins, an officer in the U.S.

Naval Forces, came up with an idea that

all those races would be held in a single

organization together. He told this idea to

his friends.

Thus the competition, which was named

Ironman, started with 15 sportsmen.

Everyone watching the competition was

wondering whether anyone could finish

this challenging series of races instead of

wondering about who was going to win.

Gordon Haller became the first Ironman

Champion, who reached the finish line in 11

hours and 46 minutes.

Contrary to common beliefs, 12 out of

the 15 athletes completed the race. The

organization was completed with success

without a misfortune or accident. Organized also next

year, triathlon attracted the attention of TV channels

and sponsor companies due to the growing interest of

the participants and audience. Thus triathlon turned into

a huge sector covering millions of licensed athletes from

all over the world.

Today in Europe, triathlon is the second

sports branch having most licensed

sportsmen after football. When it is

considered that it is an individual sport, the

significance of this number becomes more

evident. As the years passed by, Ironman

distances were lowered to more reasonable

levels to increase participation and ease

the organizations. With the foundation of

the international federation of triathlon,

the name ironman was replaced by

triathlon, which means “triple sports”.

However, the organizations maintaining

the original distances are still called

Ironman.

Triathlon made its debut in Olympics on the

Sydney Olympic Games in 2000.

EQUIPMENTS

Swimsuit

Diving wet suits

Swimming bonnet

Goggles

Flippers

Bike

Helmet

Sunglasses

Pump

Shorts

Gloves

Shoes