WHEN 21-year-old Tyler Butterfield marches into the Olympic Stadium in Athens today for the Opening Ceremony he will be following in a rich athletic tradition of his family.

The Butterfields have always excelled in the sports arena ? especially Tyler's father Jim who was feeling the same national pride 32 years ago when he marched into the Olympic Stadium in Munich with the Bermuda team as a rower. Tyler's mother Debbie almost accomplished the same distinction but just failed to make the United States Olympic team for both the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and the 1988 Seoul Olympics in the marathon. In the 1984 US Olympic trials she ran the marathon in 2:38:22 only a year after giving birth to Tyler.

Jim and Debbie Butterfield jet out for Athens on Sunday to watch their son compete in the triathlon. Jim said this week: "I was very excited and proud to represent Bermuda at the Olympics in Munich in 1972 ? and not just competing (in rowing) but also walking in the Opening Ceremony. Everything about the Olympics is amazing and it makes you so proud and excited. But I think I will be even more proud and excited watching Tyler walk in the Opening Ceremony (on TV) and being there watching him compete."

While Jim competed in rowing in 1972 and then went on to have a superb career in running and cycling, it was when the triathlon came about later in the 1970s that he found his true calling ? he was the first ever Bermudian to compete in the Ironman in 1981 when he came a superb seventh in the gruelling event in Hawaii.

But alas it wasn't until the Sydney 2000 Olympics that the triathlon became an Olympic sport and by that time Jim ? now 54 years old ? was past his prime.

However he could have fooled everyone about his fitness four years ago when, at the age of 50, he cycled from the west coast to the east coast of the United States for a charity.

Jim said: "I think watching him compete in Athens will revive old great memories for me. The one thing it will revive is all the hard work it took to just get to the Olympics. That is something which is usually overlooked by everyone. I think Tyler will also be looking back on all the hard work it has taken him to reach these Olympics."

While Tyler was travelling to Athens from his training base in Australia this week, his coach and training partner Greg Hopkins flew out of Bermuda last night to join him.

Hopkins, a good friend of Jim and Debbie Butterfield and one of the island's top cyclists, has watched Tyler grow into the athlete he is now.

"Jim and Debbie have been friends for a long, long time. I have known Tyler ever since he was born ? I used to change his diapers, literally! I have had the good fortune to see Tyler grow up and watch him compete. We have done a lot of stuff together," said Hopkins, adding, "I will be helping him prepare for the race. Over the years we have worked very closely together ? we keep in constant touch all the time either online or by the phone throughout the year."

Hopkins said that Tyler takes care of his own training programme but "we discuss what he is doing. But he pretty much plans out his own training schedule. He does work with a swim coach in Australia but concerning his cycling and running he does his own programme."

It is in the cycling section that Hopkins will primarily be helping him in Athens.

"He will be there in excess of two weeks prior to the event. The hard work is done but the last two weeks are very crucial. I will be riding with him. If anything, it is vitally important that you do not want to overdue it before the race. It is really fine tuning and keeping ready so that you peak at just the right time. It is a very delicate balance to peak at the right time. Tyler has a lot of experience for his age and I have been around for a bit so we know what we are doing."

However there was a scare a little while ago when Tyler became sick. Hopkins said: "He has gone through a period over the last month where he was quite sick. But he said he has worked through that. I think he had a parasite which made him feel fatigued. But you don't lose all those months and months of preparation. Now he said he feels like he is coming out of it. I suppose if it was going to happen it was better to happen a month before the event than one or two weeks before."

Tyler will also be the youngest athlete in the triathlon in Athens. But Hopkins said: "He still has a lot of experience. The top triathletes are in their late 20s and early 30s so this is a fantastic opportunity for Tyler who is so young. I hope people keep that in mind ? the strongest athletes in endurance events are people who have matured physically with age. But having said that, Tyler is not out of his depth at the world level."

Hopkins said that Tyler's best part of the triathlon is the cycle. "He is very strong on the bike. He is also strong in the run and his weakest part is the swim ? even he would admit to that."

So the event will start off tough for the Bermudian. "He will be behind the leaders coming out of the water," said Hopkins. "It will require him to chase down the lead group on the cycle. The thing about that is that the race is draft legal and it is clearly a disadvantage if you come out behind the lead group of swimmers. They will all be working as a group on the bike. Often we have seen Tyler spearheading the group chasing the lead riders and he does catch up on occasion but it is a lot of work for him. The disadvantage to this is because the leading cyclists are not working that hard. And if someone is a strong runner they will sit on the strongest cyclists so that they are in a lot better condition when it comes to the run.

"When Tyler has worked so hard on the bike, obviously it will detract when he gets on the run. But he is a very, very tough and determined competitor and he is also mentally tough which is required in the triathlon ? especially the Olympic triathlon which is huge pressure on anyone."

While drafting is now legal for most triathlon around the world, originally it was not. "But they changed the rules for the Olympics when they first had the triathlon in Sydney four years ago," said Hopkins. "It was primarily done for the spectator appeal. The bike course is multiple loops as is the run. The idea is that you can keep the spectator group in one area and they can see all of the action.

"I am more of a traditionalist. You tend to look down on it (drafting) but it is a different sport. Having said that it definitely added the appeal to the event and of course to become an Olympic event it has to be seen as a popular event."

Hopkins said it was obvious from a very early age that Tyler would become a top athlete.

"His older brother Spencer always showed tremendous natural ability. You could see Tyler had a lot of talent even at the youngest of age in the Ironkids. Then he moved on to bicycling events and then triathlon events. Both Spencer and Tyler clearly were natural athletes. There wasn't really a time when you suddenly said 'he has a lot of talent'. it was always there. It was obvious from the early days and it is no real surprise that he is capable of competing at the world level.

"And his cycling is exceptional. He is very talented. We had a French coach come to Bermuda and he quickly identified that Tyler was an exceptional cyclist. He said it would have been very easy for Tyler to get onto a team in Europe and that is a very high recommendation."