Triathlon: New Zealanders Carter and Docherty win gold and silver

8.50pm - By KEVIN NORQUAY

Triathletes Hamish Carter and Bevan Docherty have given New Zealand a double dose of Olympic glory in Athens today by defying energy sapping heat to claim gold and silver.

Veteran Carter, 33, sealed the third New Zealand gold of the Games when he killed off world champion and race favourite Docherty with a withering burst with 1km to run.

He charged to the line wearing a huge grin, collapsing headfirst to the ground as he registered the greatest moment of his long and successful career.

Switzerland's Sven Riederer took the bronze medal.

"I just don't believe it, I'm stoked," Carter gushed.

"The New Zealand team have been so powerful. I spoke to them before the race and they ended up putting me in the right place and I just did it."

Docherty, though disappointed to finish second after running shoulder to shoulder with Carter for so long, was full of praise for the veteran.

"It's a pity I didn't come away with the gold but who better to lose it to than Hamish?

"His training has been going so well. We both train together and it showed on the bike.

"We worked amazingly well together."

Now the Carter CV is complete, with the words Olympic Champion etched in big letters in the first paragraph.

Docherty did his best to cling on to Carter as the pressure went on in the run, but when the decisive move came he was powerless to retaliate.

Comfortably second, Docherty had time to find a New Zealand flag in the crowd and held it proudly aloft as he crossed for silver, sealing one of the greatest New Zealand days in Olympic history.

An emotional Carter let out an almighty bellow of relief after crossing the line, punching the air in delight, savouring his golden moment.

Docherty then joined in as a haka rang out and the mates hugged and wrapped themselves with a New Zealand flag.

New Zealand last won two medals in the same Olympic event at Atlanta in 1996, when equestrian riders Blyth Tait and Sally Clark took gold and silver in the three-day event.

Middle distance runners Peter Snell and John Davies put two black singlets on the podium in 1964, when Snell won the Tokyo Games 1500m with Davies taking bronze.

With 3km left to run Docherty, Carter and Sven Riederer of Switzerland had the medals sewn up, as they held a 30 second lead over the hard-chasing Greg Bennett of Australia.

Carter and Docherty both had dabs at breaking the race apart on the run, with Carter always appearing slightly more comfortable in the 29degC heat.

Victory was redemption for his failure at the Sydney Olympics four years ago, where Carter was expected to do well only to turn in a devastating 26th.

Carter and Docherty were handy to the pace from the start, with Docherty 17th and Carter 32nd in the 1.5km swim.

Both moved into a six-strong lead pack in the 40km cycling stage, with the third New Zealand triathlete Nathan Richmond slotting into the chasing third group.

At the start of the gruelling 10km run home to glory Carter was third, Docherty fourth and Richmond 24th.

Then it was New Zealand shoulder-to-shoulder, with a grim-faced Riederer clinging on in the face of a twing-pronged black attack until Carter put his foot down.

Triathlon glory reignited the New Zealand Games effort, which stalled on Wednesday in spite of the the best efforts of track cycling stars Sarah Ulmer and Greg
Henderson.

- NZPA