It takes a brave athlete to forgo the opportunity of participating in the opening ceremony after qualifying for the Olympic Games

But triathlete Tyler Smith took a leaf out of Dame Flora Duffy’s playbook by choosing to focus fully on his event, which takes place in the Seine and on the roads of Paris at 3am Bermuda time on Tuesday morning.

Smith is also bypassing the excitement of the Olympic Village, preferring to set up camp in Poissy, about 40 miles from the French capital, with Bermuda’s reigning triathlon champion and Erica Hawley.

“It’s less of a full on training camp and more of a holding camp before the Games,” Smith said.

“A big part of it is handling the drop down from altitude as well as the time difference. There are some physiological changes that happen when you drop down from altitude so you want a little bit of time to absorb the last bit of work that you did in the mountains before you go and race at sea level.

“In Poissy, we have access to good riding, running and swimming and we pretty much have to do all three every day in the lead-up to the Games so to be able to access good roads instead of being on a turbo trainer in the Village is better for us.

“We’ll be in the Village after our event concludes so we’ll be able to experience that. It gets hyped up from the outside a bit but at the end of the day it’s basically a dorm with a cafeteria, it’s not the be all and end all of the Olympics. It’s all about giving yourself the best opportunity to perform at your best level that you can.”

The life of a triathlete is nomadic, especially during a tough Olympic qualification process which lasted two years. Smith was never in one place for too long but he has been thankful that for the last couple of months he has been able to focus on just one race and one place.

“After a couple of years of going to races and trying to accumulate enough points and get the best average result, it’s been nice to put all my eggs in one basket and spend the last two months having this race clearly defined as the biggest of the year,” Smith said.

“The extra support we get from the Bermuda Olympic Association, the Bermuda Triathlon Association, and Department of Youth, Sport and Recreation allows us to access physios, coaches and helps us to put everything into this one event.

“The physical preparation is similar to other major Games but being able to just focus on the Olympics for the last ten weeks allows us to work on race simulations, so we have been doing a lot of swim to bike sessions as well as a lot of bike to run sessions, practising those transitions, and running on surfaces that are undulating, similar to the Paris course.

“A lot of specific work is being done for this race, which is not normally the case for World Cup events as there are so many you can’t really prepare for each one individually.”

There has been a lot of talk about the quality of water in the Seine with a high level of E. coli bacteria preventing athletes from taking part in training sessions on Sunday and Monday. There is a possibility that the race could be postponed for a couple of days or that the swim leg could be cancelled but Smith has been preparing for the full event and is blessed with all the latest information.

“It would take a real turn of events for the swim to be cancelled,” Smith said.

“We’re getting memos pretty much every day with updates on the water quality.

“Paris has obviously invested a lot into the infrastructure to clean up the Seine, which has been great to see, but from my perspective you don’t prepare for the what ifs, you prepare for the event as advertised.

“It hasn’t affected my preparation at all but swimming in the river, the current will play a big factor. I’ll take a few precautions and not do a swim preview in the days before in case there is bacteria but the weather is conducive to good conditions.”

Every day sees an increase in nerves, but Smith welcomes them when he is on the starting line of a big race.

“I’ve prepared well and I just want the opportunity to perform,” he said.

“When I’m not nervous that’s when I start to get a little worried as that usually means that something hasn’t gone right in the lead-up, but it’s about being on that pontoon and being confident in my abilities.

“The Olympics is a high level but I’ve been racing at a high level for a couple of years now. I’ve raced everybody on the start line before, I know who the strong guys are, who is a little weaker and where I should be in that field, so I’m very much looking forward to being in the race and being active in the race. It’s not that much of a step up on what I have done in the past.”

After those two years of relentless qualifying pressure, Smith is not placing much weight on his finishing position but he is delighted that all his efforts have garnered Olympic rewards.

“Honestly, for the first Olympics, I’m not putting much emphasis on the number,” Smith said.

“It’s more about the process and in the triathlon there is so much out of your control. A good finish for me would be in the top half of the field. There are 55 guys in the race, so a top-30 finish would be a really good day, but if I finish outside of that it will not be a disaster. It depends on how the race shapes out and if it plays to my strengths or not.

“This is the result of years and years of training, tough life decisions and putting it ahead of a lot of other things in life. It doesn’t matter who you are, to be at the pinnacle of your field is a privilege and it obviously takes a fair amount of dedication, so it’s great to have something tangible to put on the hard work I’ve done.”