What is a triathlon? Why is it called "Iron Man" triathlon?

Triathlon is one of the sports events, which belongs to a new comprehensive sports competition. The competition consists of natural water swimming, road cycling and road long-distance running in sequence, and athletes need to make great efforts to complete the competition. It became an Olympic sport in 2000.

The origin of triathlon

Triathlon originated in America. 1974 February 17, a group of sports officials gathered in a bar in the Hawaiian islands to argue: What is the most exciting and challenging sport in the world? Can best test people's will and physical fitness? Some people say it's football, some people say it's swimming across the sea, some people say it's football, others say it's long-distance cycling, mountaineering marathon and so on. They expressed their opinions and argued endlessly. Finally, Brigadier General john collins of the U.S. Navy suggested that whoever can swim 3.8 kilometers in the rough sea, cycle around the island 180 kilometers and finally run the marathon of 42. 195 kilometers nonstop in one day is the real iron man. Collins's idea was supported by everyone, so the next day, 15 people took part in the competition, including 1 female players. As a result, 65,438+04 people completed the competition, so a new type of sports event that challenged nature and defeated themselves was born in this dramatic and adventurous situation. The result of the first place in this competition is 1 1 hour 46 minutes.

After the competition, people call this comprehensive sports event "triathlon", which integrates swimming, cycling and long-distance running and provides challenges in athletes' physical fitness, speed and skills. And recognized the competition as the first world triathlon championship.

Development of International Triathlon

After the birth of triathlon in Hawaii, it was only popular in Hawaii and California at first, and then spread widely in Australia, New Zealand, Spain, France, Britain, Japan, China and other countries.

Triathlon began in San Diego 1974, and then triathlon quickly became popular in Europe, America and even the whole world, and was loved by more and more people. In order to better develop this sport, the International Triathlon Federation was formally established in April 1989, which manages international triathlon and triathlon, and its headquarters is located in Canada. By 2000, the International Railway Federation has developed into an international sports organization with 126 national and regional groups. According to the statistics of 200 1 International Express, the number of people participating in triathlon training and competition has reached more than 5 million worldwide, and more than 3,000 triathlon events are held worldwide every year. More than 200 million people watched the triathlon World Cup on TV.

The International Triathlon Federation organizes many competitions every year. Among them, there is the triathlon world championship with Olympic standard distance; 10- 12 triathlon world cup series held around the world; Long distance triathlon World Cup series; Standard distance and long distance triathlon World Cup series and world championships, as well as winter triathlon, indoor triathlon, disabled triathlon, junior triathlon and so on. General competitions are divided into excellent athletes, young athletes and amateur age groups. The youngest athlete is only 9 years old and the oldest is 9 1 year old. The scale of the competition is increasing year by year, and more and more people take part in it.

Americans think that the most exciting and challenging sport is triathlon. The Japanese believe that triathlon is the best embodiment of national spirit ... In view of the rapid development of triathlon in the world, triathlon has been listed as an official event in the Olympic Games, goodwill games, Pan American Games, Commonwealth Games, World Military Sports Conference, Asian Games and China National Games. Triathlon was officially incorporated into the Olympic family by the International Olympic Committee in 1994, and the first event that attracted much attention at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000 was the women's triathlon.

Triathlon level

The International Triathlon Federation divides international triathlon events into four levels: Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cup and International Points Competition.

Olympic triathlon: held every four years, each country has up to three athletes, male or female. Only the top three athletes in the World Championships, the first in the European Championships and the top 50 athletes in the FIT points are eligible to participate in the Olympic Games.

Triathlon World Championship: Once a year, the top international players 100 must participate.

Triathlon international points competition: every year 12 stops, which is the first step for athletes from all countries to qualify for the Olympic Games. The level of the event is second only to the World Championships.

Distance and competition setting of triathlon

With the extensive development of this sport, triathlon has produced the following distance competitions:

Olympic standard distance (5 1.5km): swimming 1.5km, cycling 40km, long-distance running 10km.

Extra long distance (225. 195km): swimming 3.8km bike180km; Long-distance running 42. 195 km.

Long distance (148km): swimming 3km by bike120km; Run 25 kilometers.

Short distance (25.75km): swim 0.75km and ride a bike 20km; Run five kilometers.

Distance settings for some items

Hawaii Triathlon Championships: swimming 3.8km, cycling 180km, marathon 42. 195km.

Nice World Triathlon Championship: swimming 3.04 km, cycling 120 km, long-distance running 29.44km..

World triathlon championships: swimming 1.5km, cycling 40km, long-distance running 10km. This is also the standard distance of triathlon, which is carried out in the order of swimming, cycling and long-distance running.

Characteristics of triathlon

Triathlon is a new sport created by combining swimming, cycling and long-distance running, with a history of 100 years. It has the characteristics that these three sports do not have:

Comprehensive: triathlon is a comprehensive sports event that completes swimming, cycling and long-distance running continuously;

Flexible and changeable: the site can be adapted to local conditions, flexible and changeable, the distance can be long or short, the project setting can be three or two, and there can be various forms of design, which is convenient for promotion;

Wide participation: At present, the youngest athlete who can complete the Olympic standard distance competition of triathlon is only 8 years old, and the oldest is 94 years old. There are professional excellent groups and amateur age groups in the competition group, which makes the competition not only have excellent professional athletes' competitions, but also meet the hobbies of amateurs who challenge the limits.

Fair competition: Triathlon is long, difficult and continuous, which is easy to eliminate human factors to interfere with the competition;

Stimulation and challenge: Triathlon is a sport that combines endurance and perseverance. Athletes complete the challenge to nature and self through competition, so they are strongly stimulating and challenging;

Ornamental: The competition is held outdoors, rain or shine, and the venue can be set in coastal cities, scenic cities or mountainous villages, with strong ornamental value.

Commerciality: Triathlon is rated as one of the top ten sports with the most charm and commercial value in the world today.

Triathlon rules

Triathlon is a severe test of skill and endurance. This tough game consists of three parts. The triathlon of Sydney Olympic Games in 2000 consists of 1.5km swimming, 40km cycling and 10km long-distance running. Triathlon athletes can't stop between different events, and immediately enter the starting point of the next competition after reaching the end of one competition.

compete

Men's and women's triathlons are held on the same route at one time. The best male athletes need 1 hour for 50 minutes (swimming for 20 minutes, cycling 1 hour, running for half an hour), while the best female athletes need 12 minutes more than male athletes. The first person to complete all three projects wins the championship.

swim

Swimming is the first event of triathlon. The Sydney Olympic Games will set up a pontoon bridge, from which athletes will dive at the same time. They must follow the triangular route marked by buoys and ropes, and anyone who crosses the shortcut will be punished. Athletes can swim in any position they like, but in fact all athletes choose freestyle.

Bicycle; Bicycle exercise

Athletes should immediately turn to cycling after landing from the water. In the cycling stage, the whole journey must be completed by bicycle. But if there is something wrong with the tire, the athlete can drive to the tire changing station to change the tire. Generally speaking, athletes must change their own tires, but the Sydney Olympic Games specially trained people to do this job. They were assigned to six tire changing stations along the track. Until 1995, cyclists were forbidden to use the airflow of the front runners in the Olympic Games because people thought it was unfair to the front runners. The rider must imagine a rectangle with a length of 10 m and a width of 3 m as the airflow area. They can't let their airflow zone overlap with other athletes unless they want to overtake. But law enforcement agencies find it extremely difficult to enforce this rule. So in 1995, they abolished this rule and let riders borrow wind from each other freely. But in reality, there is an unwritten rule among riders, which binds everyone not to borrow the wind. Anyone who breaks the rules will soon lose the respect of others.

long-distance run

The most important rule in the long-distance running stage is that athletes must finish all the races with their own feet. This one sounds obvious, but in some unforgettable triathlons, especially in the most difficult triathlon in Hawaii, once American Julie Moss finally climbed the finish line. This can't happen in the Olympic Games.

Change project

In the fierce competition, the time required for an athlete to change from swimming to cycling or from cycling to long-distance running is very important. Therefore, the rules stipulate that the operation in the exchange area should be strictly monitored. Athletes can't stop other athletes or infringe other people's competition equipment in the change zone. They must use the designated special bicycle frame and put the bicycle back to the original frame after completing the bicycle stage. Athletes must wear helmets to ensure the safety from taking the bicycle off the rack to completing the bicycle stage and putting it back on the original rack. Athletes must get on and off bicycles in the designated area or the starting line, and cycling in the dressing area is not allowed.

Finally, it is forbidden for anyone to expose his body naked or inappropriately-this regulation seems simple, but "accidents" often happen when athletes quickly get ashore from the water, take off their waterproof clothes, put on their helmets, put on their shoes and take off their bicycles from the luggage rack. The athlete's goal is to complete the event change within 30 seconds.

punish

During the competition, athletes are not allowed to block or hinder each other, let alone compete maliciously and make dangerous moves. If an athlete fouls in the swimming competition, he will be fined to stay for 30 seconds after the swimming competition. If you violate the rules in cycling or long-distance running, the referee may show a yellow card warning. At this time, the athlete must stop the game and wait for the referee's warning before continuing. If there are serious or repeated fouls, the athlete will be sent off with a red card. A total of two yellow cards will get a red card, which will be automatically sent off. The rules encourage referees to give warnings on their own initiative in the game to prevent fouls. But they don't have to warn the foul players before showing the first yellow card. Of course, the key point of the rules is to ensure the smooth progress of the game, and the less the referee is involved, the better.

Competition schedule

The starting point of triathlon swimming competition is located in Farm Bay, near Sydney Opera House. The contestants dived from the temporary pontoon bridge. They swam back to the starting point near Xiaowan along the triangular runway, and then turned to the cycling race. Cycling and long-distance running are similar roads, both of which are sightseeing routes passing through Sydney East Garden. This line starts from Sydney Opera House, turns around the coast of Farm Bay to Mrs. mcquarrie's chair, where they turn along the edge of Luwan in Urum, pass through the New South Wales Art Museum to Hyde Park, then go down to mcquarrie Street, pass through the National Parliament and the National Library Building, and finally reach the return sign, and return to Sydney Opera House by the same way. The cycling stage and running stage of this line should be circled 6 times and 2 times respectively.

equipment

swim

Swimming caps must be worn during swimming, but athletes will not be punished if they accidentally lose their caps during the competition. Swimming goggles and nose clips are allowed, but equipment used to help swimming, such as feet, gloves, paddles or floats, are not allowed. You don't need to wear waterproof clothing when the water temperature is above 20 degrees, but you must wear waterproof clothing when the water temperature is below 14 degrees. If the water temperature is between the two, a referee decides whether athletes need to wear waterproof clothes. This decision is made by the referee, who usually favors the weaker athletes. Waterproof clothing must be no more than half a centimeter thick, and athletes' swimming trunks must have an upper body.

Bicycle; Bicycle exercise

In the cycling stage, athletes must wear helmets and sportswear. Bicycles must be made according to the specified specifications unless the athletes are too tall or too short. At least 24 hours before the competition, the vehicles should be inspected to give athletes time to make necessary modifications according to the rules. Athletes must take out and put back bicycles and helmets on designated bicycle racks.

long-distance run

Athletes must wear shoes (not needed during cycling) and sportswear during long-distance running.

Qualification for the Olympic Games

There are 50 men and women triathlon athletes in the Olympic Games. Their qualifications are determined by the world rankings, but only three athletes are allowed to participate in each country.

Official website of China Triathlon Association:/

China Triathlon Association: /tieren/index.html