Simon Whitfield, the 2000 Olympic Games champion and 2002 Commonwealth Games champion, leads the five-member Canadian triathlon team at the Athens Games. While Whitfield's win in Sydney was considered a surprised he'll be one of the gold medal favorites in Athens. In 2004 he's enjoyed solid success highlighted by a World Cup win and another victory at the U.S., Olympic trials.
This past January, Whitfield helped launch the Athens 2004 Canadian Olympic Education Program designed to teach children about ideals, values and history of the Olympic Games. Whitfield himself was inspired to pursue an Olympic career seriously after meeting 1988 Olympic bronze medallist Dave Steen when he was 14-years-old.
Whitfield raced his first triathlon for fun at age 12 and by 1995 he was 10th at the world junior championships. The next year he competed at his first senior worlds which were marred by a flat tire during the cycling section. But in 1997, he showed he was one of the best finishing ninth at the world championships. His victory at the Commonwealth Games in 2002 capped a remarkable comeback from a nasty injury at a World Cup just four months earlier. Whitfield broke his collarbone and two wrists in a bicycle spill.
