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Tyler makes his mark among triathlon elite

Anyone who witnessed Tyler Butterfield?s performance in yesterday?s Olympic triathlon would have left with one question ? how much better could he have done if not sidelined at a critical point in his training?

The young Bermudian stunned the triathlon community with a brilliant showing to place 35th in his first outing at the Summer Games, firmly upholding himself as a future class act in the sport.

Crossing the finish line in one hour, 58 minutes and 26.99 seconds, he surpassed the results of more esteemed rivals with at least ten of the world?s top-hundred triathletes ? such as Martin Krnavek of the Czech Republic, ranked 18th ? trailing him. Four others crashed out, either buckling to the sweltering 26 degrees Celsius heat or falling to mechanical trouble with their bikes.

It was a Herculean effort by the enthusiastic Butterfield considering his battle to get fit after a double bout of flu derailed his training in mid-June and that he exited the water in 47th place out of 49 starters despite a solid 1.5 kilometre swim.

?It was a great experience. It was fun and I am very pleased,? he said, grinning widely after his trek through the coastal suburb of Vouliagmeni, 45 kilometres outside Athens.

?My swim was good and then, on the bike, I was with three strong riders and we worked to catch people. It got easier then because the more people we caught it meant we were moving up and there were more people to work with.?

However, having worked hard on the five-lap, 40 kilometre bike, which included a gruelling hill, he had little to give on the 10 kilometre run, though that is usually one of his strengths. So he kept a steady pace and finished well beyond anyone?s expectations.

?I just didn?t have the legs to go any faster. It would have been nice to run with the leaders in my group but most of the guys are good runners and I had nothing left,? he noted.

Butterfield, who was surprised to see some competitors he figured would be medal contenders in his company, completed his swim in 19 minutes 34 seconds, his bike in one hour, four minutes and two seconds and his run in 34 minutes and eight seconds. He had transitions of 18 seconds between the swim and bike and 24 seconds between the bike and run. He was the 26th fastest biker and earned accolades from International Triathlon Union (ITU) officials who would have felt justified in granting him a wildcard entry.

Their beneficiary was extremely thrilled to have upheld their faith in him.

?I?m happy to do that (justify the wildcard). I really wanted to qualify for this but I got the wildcard and sometimes you take what you can get. There were a few countries with big names that I got ahead of and that?s very pleasing,? noted Butterfield as surveillance helicopters circled overhead.

Unable to estimate how much better he might have performed had he not been sick twice in Australia recently, the Island?s top triathlete said he was always confident his intense background training would pull him through.

?I?ve done a few of them (triathlons) before and the last four or five years don?t disappear overnight. The last two months haven?t gone great but six or seven months before that things were going really well.

?You don?t fall asleep and wake up one morning and it?s all gone.?

Now he has tasted the Olympic scene, Butterfield declared he would definitely like to tackle it again but it will be a wait-and-see situation.

?I haven?t thought too much about what I?m going to do but I would like to come back and have another shot. Hopefully, I would be in better condition, fitter and faster four years from now,? he said.

His immediate plan is to take a break at home, compete in the CD&P Cycling Grand Prix and then head back to Australia.

Butterfield?s coach for the Olympics, Greg Hopkins, lauded the former?s output, saying it was superb.

?His performance today was extremely good. In the conditions and the quality of the field ? this is the Olympic Games, the pinnacle of sports ? for him to do what he did is very pleasing.

?You could see when he finished, he was very pleased himself,? said Hopkins, also touching on Butterfield?s training setbacks.

Putting matters in perspective, the coach noted the number-two, world-ranked triathlete Dmitriy Gaag of Khazakstan could only manage 25th place and that defending Olympic champion Simon Whitfield of Canada finished 11th. Such results, he noted, were a testimony of the course?s toughness.

Butterfield?s outcome, he said, bodes well for the future should the 21-year-old continue the tri-discipline race.

?Tyler is very young. If you look at the age of most of the triathletes here, he is very young to be at the Olympics in this sport. Triathlon is a sport where people tend to be in their late 20s, early 30s before they get to their maximum strength.

?He has got a long way ahead of him and he has got tremendous talent. To put in such a performance today, especially with the challenges that he had, just reconfirms that potential.?

Butterfield?s parents, Jim and Debbie, as well as Carol Bromby, Lesley White and Lisa Siese ? the wives of Bermuda?s Star Class sailing team ? were out with flags and banners to support him in the mid-morning event.

?I?m so happy for him. Six weeks ago we didn?t even know if he would be able to participate when he got sick,? said mother Debbie.

Her husband, who represented Bermuda in rowing at the Munich Olympics in 1972, expressed pride in his son?s achievement and ability to ?mix it up with the best in the world?.

?It was a gallant effort in tough conditions and for what he has been through recently,? he said.

New Zealand?s Hamish Carter seized gold in one hour, 51 minutes, 07.73 seconds. His compatriot and world number one, Bevan Docherty, took silver and Switzerland?s Sven Riederer, bronze.