Friday, April 4, 2008
ITU RELEASE: IOC Confirms Triathlon Invitation Spots for Beijing
Vancouver, Canada (April 3, 2008) - The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has confirmed the two ITU athletes selected by the Tripartite Commission to receive invitation places for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in triathlon. Those athletes are:
Flora Duffy - Bermuda (Women's triathlon competition)
Omar Tayara - Syria (Men's triathlon competition)
Duffy has shown tremendous promise on the ITU circuit. At the 2006 Commonwealth Games, she was a precocious 18-year old racing with the elite women and finished an impressive eighth place. Later that year she was a silver medalist at the 2006 junior world championships in Lausanne. In 2007 Duffy raced to her best world cup finish ever, a fifth place in Lisbon, Portugal. "Flora has great potential. She had a hard second half of 2007 but this selection is just the motivation she needs to make sure 2008 is a wonderful year," said Libby Burrell, ITU Director of Sport Development.
One of the most promising sports stars in Syria, Tayara finished tenth at last year's Asian Championships after only starting to compete at the elite level in September 2004. He will be the first Syrian triathlete to ever compete in the Olympic Games. Tayara opens his 2008 world cup season this weekend in New Plymouth, New Zealand .
"Omar is a talent with a wonderful personality that is a great asset to our sport. His selection is a fantastic boost for Syrian Triathlon," said Burrell. "Both Flora and Omar's selections will give them the inspiration they need to push on with their preparation and take the pressure off racing and exhausting budgets ahead of Beijing."
According to the rules defined by the IOC Executive Board, no other National Olympic Committees (NOC) were eligible to receive invitation places in Triathlon. The main priorities of the Tripartite process are NOCs which have yet to qualify athletes for Beijing or NOCs which have traditionally sent small delegations to the Olympic Games. Both Duffy and Tayara must still meet the minimum eligibility criteria to compete in Beijing, which means both must be ranked in the top 125 of the ITU Olympic rankings.
The Tripartite Commission consists of the IOC, Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) and ITU.
Click here for ITU's official Olympic site
About International Triathlon Union (ITU):
The International Triathlon Union is the world governing body for the Olympic sport of Triathlon and all related MultiSport disciplines: Duathlon, Aquathlon and Winter Triathlon. ITU was founded in 1989 at the first ITU Congress in Avignon , France and has maintained its headquarters in Vancouver, Canada since then. It now has over 120 affiliated National Federations around the world and is the youngest International Federation in the Olympics. Triathlon was awarded Olympic status in 1994. ITU is proudly committed to supporting the development of the sport worldwide through strong relationships with continental and national federations, working with its partners to offer a balanced sport development programme from grassroots to a high-performance level. For more information,
visit: www.triathlon.org
For more information, please contact:Stephen Bourdeau, ITU Media Manager
Email: stephen.bourdeau@triathlon.org Tel: +1.604.904.9248 Fax: +1.604.904.9249
Paula Kim, ITU Communications Manager
Email: paula.kim@triathlon.org Tel: +1.604.904.9248 Fax: +1.604.904.9249
For all Television and Broadcast inquiries, please contact:
Brian Mahony, ITU Director of Media & Television
Email: brian.mahony@triathlon.org Tel: +1.604.904.9248 Fax: +1.604.904.9249