Incredible drama at the end of the Olympic Games Triathlon Mixed Relay was swiftly followed by plenty of confusion at Paris 2024 early on Monday.
There was no doubt that Laura Lindemann had won gold for Germany after an epic three-way sprint finish.
But reigning champions Team GB were initially awarded the silver ahead of the USA, with both teams given the same time and just one second behind the Germans.
Indeed the GB quartet of Alex Yee, Georgia Taylor-Brown, Sam Dickinson and Beth Potter – who had gone shoulder-to-shoulder with America’s Taylor Knibb in that frantic finale – were interviewed by the BBC as silver medal winners.
But by the time the medal ceremony took place a close inspection of the photo finish had determined that it was Knibb who had crossed the line a fraction ahead of Potter.
‘An absolute whisker’
After the news came through, British Triathlon Performance Director Mike Cavendish told the BBC: “The display here [at the finish line] showed that it was silver.
“So I think all that’s happened is that when they come across the line, the judges will look at a video still – and it’s not the most accurate picture.
“Then it’s gone to the official photo finish and it showed that the Americans have got it just by an absolute whisker ahead of us.”
Asked what his reaction was to silver becoming bronze, Cavendish gave a measured response: “When it’s as close as that, you’re always going to have to go to a photo finish. And it’s relatively rare in triathlon that it goes to a photo finish, so that’s probably why it had to just take a little bit longer and they have to put something up on screen.
“I’ve seen the photo and when you zoom in really, really close, down to the hundredth of a second, it’s relatively clear.”
Taking the positives
Cavendish was also keen to take all the positives from the race rather than dwell on the photo finish reversal.
He added: “They [the GB quartet] might be a little bit disappointed with a silver, but ultimately a bronze medal is still an amazing achievement. And to be completely frank, it was just an incredible advert for the sport to have such a brilliant finish after a brilliant race.”
The GB athletes were superb from start to finish and all four of them spent spells in the lead.
Cavendish added: “The tactics went about as well as it could for us. Obviously, we expected the French to be there as well and they had a bit of an issue.
But coming down to three girls across the line, pretty much all neck and neck, is a brilliant advert for our sport.
The “issue” Cavendish referred to for France came when Pierre Le Corre took a tumble on the bike after New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde crashed right in front of him on the first leg.
That cost the hosts and pre-race favourites 40 seconds and all but put them out of the race early on – though they battled well to take fourth place, just over a minute behind the leading trio.
Reflecting on the Games as a whole which also saw a memorable gold for Yee in the men’s race and a bronze for Potter in the women’s event, Cavendish pointed out: “We’ve come here, we had three events, we won three medals. I don’t think we should be disappointed by that.
“[In the Mixed Relay], you’ve got the French, who had the best individual results across the board and the Germans are reigning world champions. We were probably third favourites.
“The Americans have managed to muscle their way in there, but this is elite sport. We can’t be disappointed with the bronze medal.”
