from the AP…
BEIJING (AP) — Jan Frodeno sprinted away from a chasing trio in the final meters Tuesday to win the gold medal in the Olympic men’s triathlon.
Favorite Javier Gomez was even with Frodeno, and so was 2004 silver medalist Bevan Docherty. Simon Whitfield, who won gold in 2000, was immediately behind.
“I just tried to focus and not read their names,” Frodeno said.
Whitfield, from Canada, pulled in front momentarily before being passed by Frodeno, who grimaced and yelled as he plowed through the finish line.
Frodeno’s final time was 1 hour, 48 minutes, 53.28 seconds in the grueling swim-cycle-run event. Whitfield finished 5.19 seconds behind and won silver. Docherty, of New Zealand, took the bronze.
“I knew the medal was safe, but I tried to get the gold. I kept thinking that this was the moment I’ve been dreaming of,” Frodeno said. “I could hear the other guys breathing, and I sprinted.”
Frodeno, who turned 27 on Monday, finished sixth at the 2007 world championship and wasn’t considered a top threat in Beijing.
“I had very little pressure going into this,” Frodeno said. “Internationally, very few other people knew who I even was.”
Instead, Gomez was the center of attention. The 25-year-old from Spain was this year’s world champion and can run the triathlon’s 10-kilometer finishing leg in under 30 minutes.
On Tuesday he needed 31:03 to complete the run and finished fourth.
“He is the standard. … We all raced today very much watching him, I’m sure,” Whitfield said. “We piled the pressure on him and said that he was the favorite.”
Gomez said afterward his Achilles’ tendon has been bothering him.
“Today there were three athletes faster than me. I say congratulations to them and I hope to try it again in four years,” Gomez said. “My tendon was really bothering me and I know in the last kilometer that I was dead.”
Gomez was with the other three leaders as they ran toward the end of the grandstand. Then they made the 180-degree turn to come back to the finish line. Whitfield couldn’t wait any longer.
“I always believe you go so early that it just takes pure willpower to go with you,” Whitfield said.
Frodeno, though, had been saving energy.
“Race conservatively and then go at the right moment,” he said.
It was a two-man race for the last few seconds, and Frodeno won it.
Axel Zeebroek of Belgium and Dirk Bockel of Luxembourg were about 50 seconds ahead of the field after the 40-kilometer cycle, but they were passed early in the 10-kilometer run.
Zeebroek finished 13th, and Bockel was 25th.
Shane Reed of New Zealand was leading after the 1.5-kilometer swim. He finished 34th, two spots behind his brother Matt.
Matt Reed, a New Zealand native, competes for the U.S.
