Whitfield wins on world stage
His lungs are searing with pain and his heart feels like it’s going to explode out of his chest as it pounding at 180 beats per minute.
The heat rises to stifling conditions. The sweat pours down his face and with 500 meters till the finish line he sits in fourth place, 25 meters back from the top three positions.
No matter what happens, he knows he will give everything he has to win.
He tells himself it’s time to go for it, and uses all the energy he has left to try and capture a moment in time. He accepts the challenge and the suffering that will have to be endured for those 500 meters.
Simon Whitfield throws his hat and commits to the challenge.
He chases down the top three using every ounce of his energy. He sees the finish line; there is no one else in front of him until he hears the breathing of German Jan Frodeno coming from behind. Frodeno passes Whitfield with 50 meters left. Simon uses every last bit of energy he has but can’t close the gap to first place finisher Frodeno.
Whitfield finished a heroic second in the triathlon event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics capturing his second Olympic medal. It was all worth it in the end for Whitfield.
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“Training was hard, many hours spent in the ‘heat shed from hell’,” said Whitfield. “I have a training room in our backyard, woodway treadmill, big TV, bike rollers, a huge poster the boys made me of Javier Gomez and I racing head-to-head. It was lots and lots of hard work; massage, icing in the ocean and lots of good coffee.”
Whitfield was born in Kingston, Ontario, May 16th 1975. He entered his first triathlon at the age of 12, a Kids of Steele event. Kids of Steele is a triathlon held for children ages 5-17 in Canada.
“I was hooked on triathlon because of the attitude at races, the comradery and Kids of Steel races are awesome,” said Whitfield.
Simon moved to Australia and attended school. It was there that he met Greg Bennett.
“It was in a triathlon at the Port Macquarie, he was second to Ben Bright (British National Development Coach). He gave me a ride home after the race in which I placed seventh junior. I called my parents right away, it was midnight in Canada and told them I just met a pro tri-athlete,” said Whitfield. “He has been one of the single biggest influences on my career.”
At the time Bennett was known as one of Australia’s great tri-athletes. The two set out training together until Simon finished his schooling and moved back to British Columbia, where he continued to train.
“Benno truly is an older brother, we don’t always get along, we bicker but I love him like a brother,” said Whitfield.
The Canadian would then go on to qualify for the 2000 Sydney Olympics. He trained hard, and started examining his weaknesses and worked to turn them into strengths. He didn’t have a great shot at winning in Sydney, analysts put him finishing in the top twenty if he was lucky.
“I never thought about what analysts said,” said Whitfield. “I just smiled, raced, had fun … and hurt.”
Whitfield didn’t have a hat to throw in the 2000 Sydney Olympics, all he had was his determination and grit and once again they shined through and he became the first Canadian tri-athlete to win a gold medal in the Olympics.
“I felt absolute elation as I crossed the line, it was amazing.”
Whitfield continues to live in Victoria with his wife Jennie and daughter Pippa. He is setting his sights on the upcoming 2012 Summer Olympics and has a new coach, Nick White, to help him take his training to another level.
“I have a desire to see a new method, a different approach with someone who has had success,” said Whitfield. “Nick loves coaching, he is truly passionate about it and having worked with Craig Alexander he understands coaching an athlete with family commitments.”
“I really feel very lucky and blessed to have the opportunity to call such a wonderful sport a job, to travel, experience so many ups, and downs, it’s an alternative education.”
Come 2012, it is unknown whether Whitfield will have a hat to through during the race. But he will definitely have the determination and heart that he has shown his entire career.
And as he has shown in the past, that may just be enough.
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