MAGIC

By now you all know that Simon won Silver in an exciting sprint finish at the Olympic Triathlon. I don't think I've ever seen a race where an athlete had to put in so many surges to move back up into contention. It was truly an awesome display of pure determination, and a performance that was easily on par with his win in Sydney in 2000.

Congrats to the entire BAMF team, coach Joel Filliol, TriCan, Colin Jenkins (!), and most importantly, Simon. It's not often in sport that an athlete welcomes that much pressure and expectation and actually delivers. For our next generation of athletes, Simon is a great example of someone who put in an immense amount of hard work, pursued excellence on a DAILY basis, and took the necessay risks to be in a position to do something incredible. It didn't always work - he had some near misses at worlds over the last few years - but he believed in himself, and when it counted most, he gave everything he had and was rewarded with a second Olympic medal. Amazing.

Maybe one of you out there will find yourself in the front pack of the Olympic Triathlon with 1k to go in four, eight, or twelve years. Anything is possible.

ps. Ian, you ALWAYS root for the home squad.