Courtesy: USAT

One year from today, on Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2004, elite female triathletes from around the world will compete in Athens, Greece in the second Olympic women's triathlon. The next day, the men will take the start line. Both races are scheduled to start at 10 a.m. in Greece (midnight EDT).

Both days could be great for the U.S. Olympic triathlon team, although nothing is certain in today's competitive world of Olympic distance triathlon.

The following is a description of the triathlon course from the Athens 2004 web site:

The sport of triathlon in the 2004 Olympics will be staged in the wider area of the Municipality of Vouliagmeni in southern Athens. The swimming will take place at one of the most famous beaches, Oceanida. The water quality is excellent and the beach has all the necessary facilities. The start will take place from a floating pontoon.

The cycling and running will be held on the "mountainous" side of the municipality, in scenery where the mountains and sea alternate along the whole route.

The cycling route will have intensive technical characteristics with constant ascents and descents, and spectators will line the whole route... The running will be staged in three laps of 3.3 km.

Based on current International Triathlon Union (ITU) world rankings, the United States will have three spots for its men and three spots for its women at the 2004 Games.

The top three ranked women in the world, as of Aug. 24, 2003, are from the United States. Barb Lindquist (Victor, Idaho) has been ranked No. 1 in the world since March 8, 2003. She is the defending U.S. national champion and has won 10 out of 13 races this season.

Laura Reback (North Palm Beach, Fla.) is the No. 2 ranked woman in the world and has reached the podium in four out of six ITU World Cups this season.

Sheila Taormina (Livonia, Mich.) is ranked No. 3 in the world. She has reached the podium in every race in which she has competed in 2003. Most recently, she won the silver medal at the Pan American Games in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Taormina competed on the 2000 U.S. Olympic triathlon team and finished sixth in Sydney. She also competed at the 1996 Olympics as a member of the gold-medal winning 800-meter freestyle relay team.

Other U.S. women having a strong season are Becky Gibbs Lavelle (San Jose, Calif.), Joanna Zeiger (Baltimore, Md.) and Susan Williams (Denver, Colo.)

Internationally, the Australian women continue to impress, although there are some new names in the standings. Loretta Harrop is the top-ranked Australian woman, but Liz Blatchford, a running specialist, has also been turning up the heat in international racing. Michellie Jones, the 2000 Olympic silver medalist, is coming back from a broken toe. Canadian Jill Savege won the gold medal at the Pan American Games and is ranked fourth in the world, followed by countrywoman Carol Montgomery. Sandra Soldan of Brazil and Kathleen Smet of Belgium have also had good showings.

On the men's side, Hunter Kemper (Longwood, Fla.) continues to be the "Ironman" of U.S. Olympic distance racing. Kemper, a member of the 2000 U.S. Olympic team, recently won the gold medal at the Pan American Games triathlon. He also finished second at the ITU World Cup in Edmonton, beating out some of the top triathletes in the world on the run.

Joe Umphenour (Bellevue, Wash.) has maintained his position as No. 2-ranked U.S. man, although he had hernia surgery in the off- season and is still working to come back.

Doug Friman (Tucson, Ariz.) has worked his way into the No. 3 U.S. spot, thanks to his third-place finish at the ITU World Cup in Corner Brook, Newfoundland and his fourth-place finish at the Pan American Games. However, Brian Fleischmann (Jacksonville, Fla.) is right behind him in fourth and Mark Fretta (Portland, Ore.), the bronze medalist at the ITU World Cup in Korea, is also in the hunt in fifth.

Other U.S. men to watch are Victor Plata (San Luis Obispo, Calif.), Andy Kelsey (Cupertino, Calif.), Seth Wealing (Fowler, Ind.) and Andy Potts (Princeton, N.Y.).

The international men's field has many amazing athletes who could be in Athens. Australians Greg Bennett and Chris Hill are No. 1 and No. 2 in the world. New Zealand has seen good showings from Bevan Docherty, Hamish Carter and Craig Watson. Spain's Ivan Rana is the defending world champion and defending Olympic champion Simon Whitfield of Canada has also stepped up in recent races.

The next ITU international points race in the United States is this Sunday at The Monster Challenge: Tri-Boston. The U.S. national championships will be Nov. 1 in San Francisco. The 2003 ITU Triathlon World Championships will be Dec. 6-7 in Queenstown, New Zealand.

The U.S. Olympic team will be chosen in 2004 through a series of three Olympic team trials races. The first will be April 18 in Honolulu, Hawaii. The second will be the 2004 ITU Triathlon World Championships on May 8-9 in Madeira Island, Portugal. The third will be June 13 in Bellingham, Wash.