OLYMPICS I’ve had top tips from my bro’ to win this
TRIATHLON
Tonight, 10.30pm (UK) EXCLUSIVE
BY aleX SPiNK in Tokyo THIS time there will be no one to pick him up if he falls.
Nobody to drive him through the swim, bike and run phases of tomorrow’s Tokyo triathlon.
No fraternal rivalry to sharpen the competitive edge as he battles to keep the Olympic gold medal in the family.
The starting line in Odaiba Bay will be a very different place to be for Jonny Brownlee without brother Alistair.
Think Morecambe without Wise, gin without tonic. You get the idea.
For as long as we can remember they have come as a package.
But now these “two ordinary men from Yorkshire”, as they refer to themselves, are down to one.
Alistair, winner in London and Rio, is missing and the challenge for the younger sibling is to show that he can function alone.
He has said all the right things about it being his chance to shine and that if he did not genuinely believe he could win, he wouldn’t be here.
But he said: ”Without Alistair being here it’s different. Yeah, it’s weird.
“If I go back to 2012, I was training towards those London Olympics, knowing that Alistair was going to win, because he was so unbelievably fit.
“I wouldn’t say I was a beaten man on the start line, but I knew everyone else was pretty much fighting for silver and bronze.
“In Rio, it was the same. He wasn’t quite that much better than me, but I knew, deep down, he was still better.
“This time that’s obviously not the case and not having that build-up – knowing your brother, your team-mate, is definitely the one who’s going to beat you – might be the difference.”
Alistair has doled out a fair bit of tough love to Jonny down the years, but forget it if you think he’s going to turn his back on him now.
“If anything, I’d say the dynamic between us is stronger because Alistair, by stepping away, can give me advice – and I genuinely know that it’s in my best interests,” said Jonny.
“I always thought it was, but before he was a competitor as well.
“Over the last six months, he’s been incredible.
“He’s a guy who doesn’t say a lot, but when he does say something, you know he means it.
“When he says you’ve got a chance, you know you have.
“And he has said that. “He really is desperate for me to go well.
“And, with his backing, I do feel this is a chance for me.”
T h e younger Brownlee has spent a career not being the
best in his family, yet ranked No.2 in the world.
That can’t have been easy.
“Yeah, but one of the things I’m proudest of in my career is not showing any jealousy or envy,” he added.
“Alistair won in London yet when I crossed the finish line again behind him in Rio it was not, ‘Why can’t I win a gold medal? Why is it always him?’
“It was very much, ‘I got beaten by the better person on the day’.”
Tonight, he just might change that.
One thing is for sure, he won’t fail through any lack of effort – or support from his big brother.