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YEŞiLAY
•
SPRING 2015
33
THE HISTORY OF TRIATHLON
Various challenging races are organized in Honolulu, the
state capital of Hawaii. The 3.800-meter long swimming
marathon held along Honolulu Beach, 180-km long
cycling race and 42 kilometers and 195 meters of running
marathon organized around the island are some of the
leading races.
In 1977, John Collins, an officer in the U.S.
Naval Forces, came up with an idea that
all those races would be held in a single
organization together. He told this idea to
his friends.
Thus the competition, which was named
Ironman, started with 15 sportsmen.
Everyone watching the competition was
wondering whether anyone could finish
this challenging series of races instead of
wondering about who was going to win.
Gordon Haller became the first Ironman
Champion, who reached the finish line in 11
hours and 46 minutes.
Contrary to common beliefs, 12 out of
the 15 athletes completed the race. The
organization was completed with success
without a misfortune or accident. Organized also next
year, triathlon attracted the attention of TV channels
and sponsor companies due to the growing interest of
the participants and audience. Thus triathlon turned into
a huge sector covering millions of licensed athletes from
all over the world.
Today in Europe, triathlon is the second
sports branch having most licensed
sportsmen after football. When it is
considered that it is an individual sport, the
significance of this number becomes more
evident. As the years passed by, Ironman
distances were lowered to more reasonable
levels to increase participation and ease
the organizations. With the foundation of
the international federation of triathlon,
the name ironman was replaced by
triathlon, which means “triple sports”.
However, the organizations maintaining
the original distances are still called
Ironman.
Triathlon made its debut in Olympics on the
Sydney Olympic Games in 2000.
EQUIPMENTS
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Swimsuit
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Diving wet suits
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Swimming bonnet
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Goggles
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Flippers
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Bike
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Helmet
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Sunglasses
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Pump
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Shorts
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Gloves
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Shoes