Triathlon By the Numbers


.9, 24.8, 6.2 Miles of swimming, biking and running that comprise an international distance triathlon.
1.5, 40, 10 Kilometer equivalent of swimming, biking and running that comprise an international distance triathlon.
2 The average number of hours it takes elite competitors to complete an international distance triathlon.
2.4, 112, 26.2 Miles of swimming, biking and running that comprise an ultra-distance race such as an Ironman.
3 Maximum number of competitors per country per gender that are allowed to compete in the Olympic triathlon.
3 Number of Olympic Games for American Hunter Kemper.
3 Number of medals won Americans Kevin McDowell and Kelly Whitley at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games in 2010.
4.2, 180.2, 42.2 Kilometers of swimming, biking and running that comprise an ultra-distance race such as an Ironman.
8:29:56 U.S. elite triathlete Tim DeBoom's time when he won the Ironman World Championship for the second time in 2002.
11:46:58 The time it took Gordon Haller to win the first Ironman competition in 1978.
13.6

Ratings share NBC received for its telecast of the Summer Olympics on Sept. 16, 2000, beating the other three major networks. This night included coverage of the women's triathlon.
16 The day in September 2000 when the women’s triathlon was contested for the first time in the Olympics.
25 The amount of dollars Ironman founder John Collins had to pay after he lost the bet of which type of athlete was the fittest. Also, the age of the Ironman Hawaii race. It celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2003.
25.6 Degrees Celsius (78 degrees F) that the water has to equal (or below) in which wetsuits are allowed in a triathlon swim.
51.5 Total amount, in kilometers, that an international-distance triathlon covers. This was the answer that prompted, “What is triathlon, Alex?” on a Fall 1999 broadcast of Jeopardy. That distance equals 32 miles.
1974 The year that the word “triathlon” was used in the modern sense for the first time. It was in the San Diego Track Club’s newsletter publicizing the Mission Bay Triathlon.
1982 The year that Julie Moss crawled to the Ironman finish line, inspiring the mantra that just finishing the Ironman is a victory. At the time, Moss was a college student competing to gather research for her exercise physiology thesis.
1989 ITU hosted the first Triathlon World Championship in Avignon, France.
1995 The year of the first Pan American Games triathlon competition.
2000 The year of the first Olympic Games triathlon competition in Sydney, Australia.
2004 The year that Susan Williams won bronze for the United States at the Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.
2005 The year that Hunter Kemper was ranked No. 1 in the world and received the United States Olympic Committee’s SportsMan of the Year award.
2007 Hy-Vee Triathlon begins offering the largest single-day prize purse in triathlon history. It is currently at $1 million.
19,060 Number of annual members of USA Triathlon in 1999.
135,000 Number of annual members USA Triathlon surpassed in 2010.