Our bronze age continues

The lanky, balding Bevan Docherty pumped his arms and kept his legs spinning, pulling away from the Spanish favourite to pick up New Zealand's fourth bronze medal.

This was a great moment, although there is doubt as to whether the Chinese officials agreed. The German, Canadian and Docherty were marched in spectacularly short order to the podium for the medal ceremony.

It's possible I missed the reason for this, whether they were paying an hourly rate for the rental of that blue carpet-like Astroturf in the staging area and wanted to get it back pronto, or they had tickets for the big events at the Birds Nest and didn't want to mess around.

Whatever.

The thing is Docherty, who promptly informed an interviewer, that competing in the savagely tough Triathlon is something he loves, and that he has an eye on the swim up the Thames, biking around the East End and legging it down to Buck House in 2012, got his medal.

He joined Valerie Vili in sweeping aside the occasional snideness about New Zealanders struggling to win anything while not sitting down through the entire event; rowers, cyclists etc.

The Triathlon is great television. It lasts just under two hours, and comes in nicely bite-sized pieces, swimming, cycling, and running. This removes the worry of running or cycling races lasting a long time. The sight of all those super-fit people doing a single thing for that length of time causes unease and guilt in those reliant on their cakes and ale, and torments them with recollections of long-dormant gym memberships.

One thing the coverage did and did brilliantly was the super slow-motion shots during the cycling. A great moment was the silent decision amongst the favourites whether or not to chase a breakaway.

None of them said anything, but in an athlete's telepathy they came to the same decision. 'Forget it. We'll get him.'

And, they did.

And, Docherty got a medal out of it.

Excellent.

Denis Edwards

Pictured above: New Zealand Olympic triathlete Bevan Docherty is happy with his bronze medal which he claimed in the Men's Triathlon. Photo / Kenny Rodger