Olympics-Triathlon-Brownlee and Jorgensen bury the favourites’ curse (Reuters)
By Mitch Phillips RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 22(Reuters) – Britain’s Alistair Brownlee and American Gwen Jorgensen finally buried the Olympic triathlon’s “favourites’ curse” as their emphatic gold medal performances underlined their status as the sport’s eminent practitioners. Brownlee has a claim to be the best-ever, having become the first triathlete to retain an Olympic title, while gold for Jorgensen rubber-stamped a dominance that was built on a remarkable 13-race unbeaten streak. Triathlon has totally embraced the Olympics from the day it was accepted back in the 1990s, even renaming its then “standard” 1.5km swim, 40km bike and 10km run “Olympic Distance”.