The Brownlees: An Olympic Story


The Brownlees: An Olympic Story

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Transcript


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We are a pair.

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We both know that we wouldn't be where we are today

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without each other.

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The fact that we do get grouped together means

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we do do a lot together and I quite enjoy that.

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Brownlee wins in London!

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Jonathan...!

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Alistair Brownlee is the champion.

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Two brothers on top of the Olympic podium.

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This is the tale of two brothers who bicker and fall out

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like any brothers but, together, like nothing more

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than taking on the world and winning.

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# Marching on together

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# We're going to see you

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# Tra-la-la-la! #

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What annoys you about Alistair?

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Erm, I think him turning up late,

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I think he gets a kick out of making people wait.

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So in the mornings, say, in Spain, I'm all ready to go,

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he's always the last one to come down.

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That really annoys me.

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And I think he knows it annoys me as well.

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We have to give Alistair a right to reply here.

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What about Jonny annoys you?

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Erm, well, the fact that he actually thinks I'm late on purpose to

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annoy him, that's quite annoying, because obviously I'm not.

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We're not just talking about a couple of brothers from next door,

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we're talking about the best triathletes there's ever been

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in the history of the sport.

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Alistair Brownlee is the Olympic triathlon champion!

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And there will be both of the brilliant Brownlee brothers

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on the Olympic podium, as Jonathan comes home for bronze.

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You are Olympic champion.

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Thank you very much.

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Feels a bit underwhelming in a way because Jonny's just collapsed.

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The medal ceremony was delayed a while because

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of a medical problem for younger brother, Jonny. He's OK now.

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When we were kids, we competed over absolutely everything.

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Board games, badminton in the garden, cricket

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and there were lots of times where we used to fall out

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and the board games were tossed up in the air.

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We literally played everything and competed over it

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with Ed trying to keep up somewhere in the middle

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or siding with one of us.

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Jonathan was always much better with me,

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he's always been a lot more kind of understanding

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and friendlier and he always played a lot more sports.

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We always used to go out in the garden and play football together.

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But Alistair was a lot more individual,

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he's kind of been on his own a lot.

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He was not bothered about playing football, he's never been able to

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play football very well, to be honest with you.

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Family aside, the one person who knows the Brownlees best

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is their coach and mentor, Malcolm Brown.

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The first time I met Alistair Brownlee

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was at the Carnegie running track

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and this gentleman came walking across the track

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with his two boys and I said, "Are you here to train?"

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And he said, "Well, yes."

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He pointed to the taller of the two, which was Alistair,

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and he said, "This is Alistair.

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"He's quite good at cross-country running but he lacks a bit of speed.

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"I was just wondering if there's anybody here who can help him out."

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I said, "Oh, that's interesting."

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I said, "And the little one?" - Jonny -

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He said, "Oh, forget him, he's a footballer."

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There was times when I was doing other things with football,

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rugby, and I dreamed of playing for Leeds United

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and dreamed of playing rugby.

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I'd been doing a bit of swimming, a bit of running

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and I think something like eight or nine years old,

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saw my uncle doing a triathlon and just decided to give one a go.

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enjoyed endurance sports. Swimming and running were the things

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that I was good at and enjoyed doing

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and I think triathlon just had that extra element

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of obviously the cycling but also the technical aspect

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of jumping on and off a bike,

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the slight tactical aspect of other people and, you know,

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putting your T-shirt on, even having to remember your number.

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All those things added a bit more interest to a sport

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to a nine-year-old

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that made it a bit more exciting than just swimming up and down.

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What were they like at that age, as characters?

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Alistair would generally come into to the pool about four o'clock,

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session didn't start until half past four.

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He was one of the kids that would always want to know what the

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session was. I think that's the reason why he came in,

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because I always wrote the session on the board first.

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So he'd come, he'd observe,

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he'd look and he'd say, "Don't like that set.

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"Don't want to do that. Can we change that to that?

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"Can I do this instead of that?"

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But getting Jonny inside to start training was just...

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I'd be banging on the window.

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Doing the... Doing this. "Come on!"

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And he's be standing at the window going...

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"No, not yet."

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And I'd be like, "Now!"

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And then he'd come on t'poolside, muddied up as well.

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"Go and have a shower."

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Ten minutes later, he'd stroll back in again,

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warm-up was just about finished.

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"Am I doing my warm-up now?"

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"No. You've already missed the first 400 talking.

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"Can we...can we get going?"

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I'd heard about Jonny because Jonny was two years younger

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and with Alistair being in senior school, you heard the name Brownlee

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in junior school, you thought, "Hello, this is another star."

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And of course the reports coming through were very, very good.

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Do you think that it was essential for Jonny

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that he had his big brother sort of forging a path for him?

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I think it was a very good thing for him

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and in some ways a very difficult thing for him

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because obviously the name Brownlee was associated with great success.

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OK.

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One of the influences in their lives early on

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was my co-coach at the Leeds Triathlon Centre, Jack Maitland.

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And Jack was looking after them

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as part of the northern talent group

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and he gave me a statement of how good they were,

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which is they were amongst the best in the north of England at the time.

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But what struck me really was their absolute love of the outdoors

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and training.

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So when I spoke to them about what they'd been doing

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before they'd come to me, say, on a Tuesday night,

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they'd already cycled to school, swam, had a run at lunchtime

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and then turned up to do a training session.

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And it struck me that these characters were really exceptional

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in their enjoyment of hard work.

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I think it clicked very quickly, really.

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Kind of the back end of 2005,

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I went to my first world championships as a junior,

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was absolute useless.

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At the time I thought I didn't have that good a race

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but I actually had one of the quickest runs and I thought,

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"I'm maybe not a million miles off here,

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"I'm very young in my age group,

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"it kind of shows me that with a bit more, I could be there."

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I definitely kind of went away from that and thought, "Well, you know,

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"I can be a lot better next year, I'm going to go away and be better."

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The word determination is just synonymous with Alistair, really.

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Alistair was a racing machine

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because he not only ran for the school

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but he was running for Bingley Harriers at the same time

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in fell races,

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many of which I didn't even know about, to be quite honest with you.

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He'd go off in the midweek, he'd train in the afternoon

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and then race in the evening, and I didn't know.

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But that was the way he was.

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He just loved racing, I think.

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Alistair would work his transitions after training.

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His mother often used to say,

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"I haven't had to wash his towel for a month cos it's still dry."

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Because I think he'd just go straight into the changing rooms,

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shake off and he'd be in his clothes

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and often, his mum would bring his bike down on the back of the car

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and Alistair would be out,

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I'd still be wiping the board from the session

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and I'd see him going flitting past the window

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and jumping on the bike and waving at his mum and he'd be gone.

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Jonny, in the changing rooms, having a lovely long shower,

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waiting for a lift home in the car.

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But as they got older and Jonny was starting to get more

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into his triathlons as well, it would be,

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"How fast can we get on the bike?"

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And Jonny didn't want to get left behind.

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Are the boys very much a product of their environment?

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Well, if you look around - hills, hills, hills everywhere.

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You're either going up a hill or down a hill.

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It's tough country and I think the boys have always loved

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tough conditions. I mean, the tougher the conditions, the better.

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I suppose there is that kind of rugged tradition in Yorkshire,

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particularly the fell running and there's that kind of...

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I wouldn't say it's a myth but...

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The tough Yorkshireman and I think... It's there.

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It's there, it's there with them. Yeah.

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Were they always competitive,

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with each other and other people in the group?

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Yeah, the pair of them were always up for a bit of a race

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to the top of the next hill, first man to the cafe, etc.

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Yeah, they've...

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I mean, anything that they'd do, as seen through the years,

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they're always trying to be the best at it.

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Always trying to win.

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A lot of people, when they hear about us training 35 hours a week,

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think that's a lot of training

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but 90% of our training is doing that kind of talking first.

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You're like this, you're riding round in somewhere beautiful

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and on a day like today, it's fun.

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So I'd say 90% of it is fun, 10% of it is not so fun.

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The worst thing that I hate more than anything is the cold,

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so there's those days when, for some reason, Alistair's dragged me

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into the Dales for two hours and I've charged into Dales

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and it starts snowing and hailing

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and I'm thinking, you know, "50 miles home.

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"That's a long way to go in the hail."

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I just love being in pain.

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You know, I actually love this, I thrive off pushing myself,

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not only if it's a competitive situation

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and I'm trying to hang onto someone but also just on my own, you know,

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being able to push myself and hurt

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and I've got no idea where that's come from.

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I think it's just years and years of doing it maybe

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and enjoying doing it.

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Although I think my dad'd tell you that, you know,

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even the first time he saw me do cross-country as a six-year-old,

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I went red in the face and looked like I was about to die,

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so maybe I had it then as well.

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Now, your mum tells a story when you were probably one year old,

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and Alistair had started going to nursery and you crawled around

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so much looking for him that you'd actually make your knees bleed.

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THEY LAUGH

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The fact that Alistair was always doing things ahead of you,

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did that make a real difference to you?

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Yeah, definitely, yeah. I remember looking up to Alistair.

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I remember moving into our house,

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I've got a memory of choosing the room next to Alistair

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even though it was the smallest room in the house.

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For some reason, I wanted to be next to Alistair.

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When ran in the Yorkshire cross-country team,

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when he came back with a Yorkshire vest

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to compete in the national champs, I thought, "I can do that as well."

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And I've been able to do that for my whole sporting career.

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I'm probably not the personality who's going to go out there

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and, you know, do it for myself without someone else kind of

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showing me the way before, and Alistair definitely did that.

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I think I am more of a team player,

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I'm a lot better at kind of listening to other people

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and involving their ideas, whereas Alistair's a bit more,

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"It's my way." Is Alistair's way always the right way?

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In Alistair's head? Oh, in Alistair's head,

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definitely it's always the right way. And if it's not the right way,

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he'll just argue that it is the right way, whatever,

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and then he'll change opinions to what he was

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and say that he was arguing that way anyway.

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But, yeah, he always thinks he's right, definitely.

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'It's good in a way having someone who is a strong personality

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'because it means that when you do something,

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'you 100% believe in it

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'and I think that's really, really important in sport.'

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About half an hour and we'll come back here.

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Does it feel like a relationship of equals or does it still feel like

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Alistair, cos you're the big brother, you have the final say?

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Er, I think it is more a relationship of equals.

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I like to think my point of view is more significant

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because I know more so... It can't be equals then, can it?

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From that one comment, surely it can't be equals?

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No, it's, like, equal as in

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if you had as much clever things to say as me,

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we'd be equal but you don't. It's a lot like...

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I feel like you've answered the question. Yeah!

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It's a lot like the old adage isn't it?

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Where if, you know, if someone...

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If you disagree with me, we have a talk about it, I listen to

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your point of view, we have a little debate and then I decide.

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Yeah, well, there you go.

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Did Alistair take control of his own destiny, I suppose, quite early?

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Very. There was a conversation that Jack Maitland had with me

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on one of the regional development camps when they were teenagers

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and said, "Coz, his training programme's all over the place.

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"You see him the most, you're the one that has

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"contact with him every day." And I just said...

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"I just coach him for the swimming."

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I said, "Alistair does all of his running

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"and his cycling away from me."

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I said, "I don't know enough about the sport."

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So he just sort of said, "Yeah, but he is doing a lot of swimming

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"for a triathlete." So a few sessions later, I said,

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"Alistair, have you got time for a word?" "Yeah."

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I said, "Jack's a bit worried.

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"He thinks you need to balance your training programme." "Why?"

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I said, "Do you think you're doing too much?" "No.

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"I know what I need to be doing in ten years to be in the Olympics."

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And the back of my brain thought, "Ooh, what's he just said?"

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And I went, "Right."

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And he said, "I've got to get through the 1,500 metres

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"on an Olympics really easy. Really easy.

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"Because I need to blow apart on the bike, you know, and the run."

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And I said, "Right." And he said, "Three sessions a week's

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"not going to do it, though, is it, Coz?

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"I need to get out feeling fresh.

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"And I need a training programme that's going to do that."

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He said, "I'm not changing that, I know what I need to do in ten years

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"and I'm doing it now so I'm ahead."

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At 14. He knew.

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There was no doubt that he was trying to become a world champion

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as a junior. There was no doubt that he would want to then

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be a world champion as a senior.

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There's no doubt if you're the world champion as a senior,

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you want to be the Olympic champion.

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The Brownlee brothers are taking no prisoners here this afternoon.

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ALISTAIR: I don't think they're tactfully that proficient

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a lot of the times, these guys.

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Both Alistair and Jonny in a race, you know,

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pretty ruthless individuals

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and, you know, they want their space in their water

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and they don't want anyone to come into that

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and there's a consequence if anybody does.

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They a have a view of the way that the race should go

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and how others should race and they feel quite irritated with

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people who aren't trying to optimise their own performance

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because they can see that if these guys did do different things

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they would be better, so they try to give advice during the race.

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They're pretty ruthless competitors but top-class sport is ruthless.

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And if you're not willing to be ruthless

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then go and do something else.

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I think big races are the thing that probably brings us together

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a bit more than anything, because it's at that point where

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it feels like it's us two against everyone else in the world

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and I think that pushes us together more than anything.

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Rather than each other pulling us together,

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everything else pushes us together.

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Almost every big race we've started, still on the start line

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and it's like, you know, we're kind of in this together.

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Do you think he would've achieved what he's achieved without you?

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Without you pushing him on?

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I don't think he would've achieved that if I wasn't there.

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Not as good.

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He would probably argue that he would've still achieved it

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but I don't think sometimes he realises what I can add to it

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and how strong it is, the feeling that someone's chasing you

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and you want to kind of push yourself on the whole time.

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And that he doesn't realise how strong it is

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that there wasn't a day where he could back off or a session

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that he could back off because I was chasing after him.

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And specially these last couple of years,

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I think I've been very important to him as a training partner,

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as someone he can talk to as well.

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Has that competitiveness in training ever spilled over?

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Yeah, it has spilled over, definitely, and...

0:15:160:15:18

Not so much in training sessions

0:15:180:15:20

but kind of training races where we've been doing races

0:15:200:15:23

that are low key and supposed to be fun.

0:15:230:15:25

Like in 2012,

0:15:250:15:27

we raced the Yorkshire Cross Country Champs and we were first and second

0:15:270:15:30

and we'd had a busy week and we should've just kind of

0:15:300:15:33

run in together or... But we were absolutely maxing it out

0:15:330:15:37

with a K to go and it was a couple of weeks later

0:15:370:15:39

that Alistair had tore his Achilles

0:15:390:15:41

so that was probably...went a long way to doing that.

0:15:410:15:44

And if both of us had backed off 10, 15 seconds

0:15:440:15:48

in the last little bit, which we could've easily done,

0:15:480:15:50

then we would've been fine.

0:15:500:15:52

With those extra couple of years,

0:15:520:15:54

Alistair's been able to take it that little step further than Jonny.

0:15:540:15:58

And I think a little bit of that is Jonny's still the younger brother.

0:15:580:16:05

A little bit of, you know...

0:16:050:16:07

He needs to still come out of the shell a little bit and

0:16:070:16:10

just convince himself that he can kick Alistair's arse.

0:16:100:16:13

LAUGHTER

0:16:130:16:16

Not that Ali's going to let him!

0:16:160:16:17

If Jonny does fall below Alistair's high standards,

0:16:190:16:22

his big brother is quick to let him know.

0:16:220:16:24

They are separated by a metre,

0:16:240:16:27

as Alistair stops to bellow some encouragement

0:16:270:16:30

towards his younger brother.

0:16:300:16:32

Gomez isn't broken yet.

0:16:320:16:34

Gomez is still fighting for his world title.

0:16:340:16:38

Oh, my word, it's Gomez's victory!

0:16:380:16:40

I'll be giving him a lot of stick for that.

0:16:400:16:43

He's thrown a world title away today

0:16:430:16:45

for being a complete tactical numpty.

0:16:450:16:48

Is that typical of their relationship? Yeah, absolutely.

0:16:480:16:51

Alistair'll be the first one to criticise Jonathan.

0:16:510:16:53

Like, whatever happens, even if he did something well,

0:16:530:16:56

Alistair would pick something at him and tell him what he's doing wrong

0:16:560:16:59

so it just sums it up, really.

0:16:590:17:01

But it was true, he was right in the end, weren't he?

0:17:010:17:03

He was an absolute tactical numpty.

0:17:030:17:05

But, no, Jonathan probably wouldn't take it from me obviously

0:17:050:17:07

but he'll take it from Alistair, being the older brother,

0:17:070:17:10

and he obviously knows what he's on about, don't he, Alistair?

0:17:100:17:13

Fast forward to his World Series victory in Gold Coast in 2015.

0:17:130:17:17

Lessons had been learned and Jonny appeared on the verge

0:17:170:17:20

of becoming top dog in the Brownlee household.

0:17:200:17:22

His chance to prove it came at the race in London at the end of May.

0:17:220:17:26

But disaster struck.

0:17:260:17:28

Jonny Brownlee has problems with his bike.

0:17:280:17:30

He's remounted

0:17:300:17:32

but there's clearly a mechanical issue for Jonny Brownlee

0:17:320:17:35

before he's even got stuck into the first lap.

0:17:350:17:39

Alistair took the win.

0:17:390:17:41

Jonny was 42nd.

0:17:410:17:43

That led to a significant injury which meant

0:17:430:17:46

that he was unable to compete in the Olympic test event in Rio.

0:17:460:17:52

After London, Jonny went to Switzerland to train,

0:17:520:17:54

and it was there that he suffered a stress fracture in his hip.

0:17:540:17:58

When injury strikes,

0:17:580:17:59

the boys turn to British triathlon's lead physio,

0:17:590:18:02

Emma Deakin.

0:18:020:18:03

The thing about athletes racing at this level,

0:18:030:18:06

they're always pushing their bodies to the extreme, really.

0:18:060:18:09

And a stress fracture is an injury,

0:18:090:18:10

it does what it says on the tin, really,

0:18:100:18:12

it's like when a bone's stressed constantly, constantly,

0:18:120:18:16

and I think you just get to the point where that's actually

0:18:160:18:18

tipped over the good side and then that causes a stress fracture

0:18:180:18:22

so there's loads of factors that can contribute as well

0:18:220:18:24

that we know about and that's the major thing, really, is

0:18:240:18:27

learning from that, for Jonny, so looking actually

0:18:270:18:29

what his training load was when he got his stress fracture,

0:18:290:18:32

what was his nutrition like, what was his recovery like,

0:18:320:18:34

and then we can look at all that to try and prevent it happening again.

0:18:340:18:37

That was the first time in ten years that Jonny's had a long period

0:18:370:18:42

away from training and racing.

0:18:420:18:44

So I think it was actually a good thing for him

0:18:440:18:46

and I think he's a better athlete now

0:18:460:18:49

and makes better judgment calls now because of that experience.

0:18:490:18:52

Alistair, on the other hand, you know,

0:18:520:18:54

has had a number of occasions in the last ten years,

0:18:540:18:57

has had two or three months when he can't run, for instance,

0:18:570:19:01

and he knows how to deal with it psychologically.

0:19:010:19:05

It's Alistair's left ankle that has caused most of the problems.

0:19:050:19:09

He might be the fittest, fastest and most determined

0:19:090:19:12

but injuries to that ankle have stopped him

0:19:120:19:14

from challenging for world titles in every year

0:19:140:19:17

since winning the Olympics.

0:19:170:19:19

Kind of had a big conscious effort this year.

0:19:190:19:22

Obviously had, you know, ankle reconstruction surgery,

0:19:220:19:26

which is a big deal in itself.

0:19:260:19:28

And I've been working very hard

0:19:280:19:32

doing everything I can with that ankle

0:19:320:19:34

and instead of doing the training that I think I need to do.

0:19:340:19:37

And if something goes wrong with the ankle, something goes wrong

0:19:370:19:41

and that's a pain in the arse.

0:19:410:19:43

I'm really doing everything I need to do kind of around the ankle

0:19:430:19:46

at the moment instead.

0:19:460:19:47

So, yeah, that's the limiting factor.

0:19:470:19:50

Do you feel like you know that ankle better then your own ankle now

0:19:520:19:54

after all the times you've treated down the years?

0:19:540:19:57

I know this ankle better than any other ankle, yeah.

0:19:570:20:00

So this is the one that had the reconstruction.

0:20:000:20:03

Yeah, so basically he had two procedures at the same time.

0:20:030:20:06

So he had the... In basic terms,

0:20:060:20:08

he had the back of the ankle washed out and cleared out

0:20:080:20:11

so that the tendons could move properly and freely through the back

0:20:110:20:14

of the ankle, and then Alistair actually had a tendon

0:20:140:20:18

and a ligament on the outside of the ankle missing,

0:20:180:20:21

so it was really unstable and then obviously he's quite

0:20:210:20:23

a toe-y runner, which means that you run in an unstable position

0:20:230:20:26

on an unstable ankle

0:20:260:20:28

so he had the lateral side of his ankle stabilised.

0:20:280:20:31

I think you'd probably had, like, what,

0:20:310:20:33

nearly three years of it being painful? Yeah.

0:20:330:20:36

Yeah, so I think... On and off.

0:20:360:20:37

..that's the main thing, like, for me, the biggest outcome

0:20:370:20:40

of the operation was for Alistair to be able to run pain-free

0:20:400:20:43

because then I don't get...

0:20:430:20:46

When you're injured or off or ill or whatever, you know,

0:20:460:20:49

you don't feel quite right.

0:20:490:20:50

I think that there's a lag, you know, cos you train so hard,

0:20:500:20:53

you're competing and travelling and stuff.

0:20:530:20:55

Definitely you have a few weeks where you think, "Actually,

0:20:550:20:58

"it's quite nice to relax a bit," but you don't feel quite right.

0:20:580:21:01

You just feel...I just feel hot and bothered and not, you know,

0:21:010:21:05

not quite with it.

0:21:050:21:06

I don't feel mentally with it, I don't feel physically with it

0:21:060:21:09

and, you know, you really miss the exercise.

0:21:090:21:11

Alistair's good in terms of he's intelligent

0:21:110:21:14

and he researches it himself

0:21:140:21:15

and he's got his own ideas and his own opinions.

0:21:150:21:18

I think my job is really just to find out options

0:21:180:21:21

and to look at sort of the best ideas around an injury

0:21:210:21:24

or best ideas around a treatment programme

0:21:240:21:26

and then let Alistair choose what he wants to do.

0:21:260:21:28

Cos it's his body and it's his ankle and he's got to run so,

0:21:280:21:31

yeah, I think that's the main thing.

0:21:310:21:33

And when he does as he's told, he's really good.

0:21:330:21:35

When he does as he's told, I like that. Yeah.

0:21:350:21:38

And when he doesn't do as he's told, he just doesn't tell me.

0:21:380:21:41

Alistair Brownlee's tactics have proved to be a stroke of genius.

0:21:430:21:48

Alistair takes the win in Stockholm, a stunning success.

0:21:500:21:55

Have you got a favourite race win?

0:21:570:21:59

I won a race in Stockholm in 2013 where there was no way

0:21:590:22:02

I really should've won that race.

0:22:020:22:04

I just chose my moment right on the bike to get away

0:22:040:22:07

and just had to hold on for dear life on the run.

0:22:070:22:09

I wasn't really that fit and I was thinking,

0:22:090:22:11

"These guys should be running me down."

0:22:110:22:13

But, yeah, just pure determination, really.

0:22:130:22:16

What does winning feel like?

0:22:160:22:18

Winning feels very different depending on the event.

0:22:180:22:21

I wanted to win the Yorkshire Cross Country Champs when I was 12,

0:22:210:22:24

I think, just as much as I wanted to win the Olympics when I was 24.

0:22:240:22:27

I've had some great experiences where I've thought, you know,

0:22:270:22:29

"That was fantastic,

0:22:290:22:30

"I got everything out of myself that day, everyone was competitive."

0:22:300:22:34

You know, the Olympics was like that for me.

0:22:340:22:35

It was that kind of experience.

0:22:350:22:37

I think if I've had

0:22:370:22:39

a really good day and I get beaten, you know,

0:22:390:22:41

I might struggle to process it that bit more.

0:22:410:22:44

But times when I've had a race and I think, "Actually..."

0:22:440:22:48

So, like in Yokohama when I raced last year,

0:22:480:22:51

I just felt terrible for the whole race.

0:22:510:22:53

The speed rises another notch.

0:22:530:22:56

Gomez has got him!

0:22:560:22:58

Gomez will win in Yokohama.

0:22:580:23:00

I just had nothing.

0:23:020:23:03

The worst I've ever felt in a race in my life.

0:23:030:23:06

'To cross the line in second, I thought, "This is brilliant."

0:23:060:23:08

'Like, "There's no way I should even be here,'

0:23:080:23:11

"I only got here by just putting myself through more

0:23:110:23:14

"than anyone else has,"

0:23:140:23:15

and so I was actually really satisfied with that.

0:23:150:23:17

So I think you can take something away from every performance

0:23:170:23:20

like that in a way, which is a good thing,

0:23:200:23:22

but also it's a bit dangerous as well

0:23:220:23:25

because, you know, I don't like this attitude of,

0:23:250:23:27

"I had a bad race but it's a learning experience."

0:23:270:23:29

I think that's a very convenient excuse to a lot of people -

0:23:290:23:33

why it's a good reason to have bad performances when it's not.

0:23:330:23:36

'There is another threat and it comes from Spain.

0:23:360:23:40

'Javier Gomez has five world titles to his name

0:23:400:23:43

'and should the 2012 silver medallist triumph in Rio,

0:23:430:23:46

'he could claim to be the greatest of this great generation.

0:23:460:23:51

'But if Alistair can become the first triathlete in history

0:23:510:23:53

'to defend an Olympic title, then that crown is arguably his.'

0:23:530:23:58

Gomez from the outside looks like he's played it very sensibly,

0:23:580:24:01

"OK, I'm not going to be the best on a one-off occasion

0:24:010:24:04

"but I'm going to be consistent."

0:24:040:24:05

Whereas you love being the best on the big races.

0:24:050:24:09

Yeah, Gomez has done a very good job of being consistent,

0:24:090:24:12

there's no doubt about that.

0:24:120:24:13

It's a skill and, you know, he's absolutely nailed that skill

0:24:130:24:17

and done very, very well at it

0:24:170:24:18

and that's why he's won the world titles.

0:24:180:24:20

I had the choice to race like that and try and win world titles,

0:24:200:24:23

if I wanted, and trained differently and try and race differently.

0:24:230:24:26

So it's the choice I made and I think it's been quite closer

0:24:260:24:29

than it looked, you know,

0:24:290:24:30

just a few kind of unlucky little things and decisions I've made.

0:24:300:24:33

It could've been very different in terms of the world titles.

0:24:330:24:36

How does the rivalry with Gomez compare

0:24:360:24:38

to your rivalry with Jonny?

0:24:380:24:40

If indeed it is a rivalry with Jonny.

0:24:400:24:43

Well, I'd much prefer Jonny to beat me than Gomez to beat me.

0:24:430:24:47

I suppose that's the crunch of it.

0:24:470:24:49

And, yeah, I think at the end of the day when it's done, that's that,

0:24:490:24:52

and I want to beat both of them.

0:24:520:24:54

I'm actually probably a bit more worried about Jonny

0:24:540:24:56

on a day than I am about Gomez. Why's that?

0:24:560:24:59

I think Jonny's got the capability to have a really, really good day

0:24:590:25:02

but, you know, I suppose come to the Olympics,

0:25:020:25:05

yeah, I'd much preferred Jonny to beat me than I would Gomez.

0:25:050:25:08

What does it feel like, beating Alistair?

0:25:080:25:11

I've beaten Alistair a few times. In Hamburg 2013,

0:25:110:25:14

he'd tried to come round me with about 100 metres to go

0:25:140:25:16

and I knew that I was going to beat him then because he came,

0:25:160:25:19

he'd just got past me and I had quite a lot left so I thought,

0:25:190:25:21

"Right, see you later. I'm off now."

0:25:210:25:24

It's a sprint finish between the brothers.

0:25:240:25:26

It's going to be tight between them

0:25:260:25:28

but it's Jonathan's win!

0:25:280:25:30

A first reaction is, you know, "Wow, I've won,"

0:25:300:25:34

if I have won or had a great race

0:25:340:25:36

and the next reaction definitely is a bit,

0:25:360:25:39

"That was a bit weird. I've upset the norm.

0:25:390:25:41

"I shouldn't have beaten Alistair."

0:25:410:25:43

And some of that I really need to get over

0:25:430:25:46

because you kind of expect Alistair to win

0:25:460:25:48

and it means those days that we're equally as good as each other,

0:25:480:25:52

he's more likely to edge it cos he's going to expect a win.

0:25:520:25:55

And hopefully it's something that I've been able to change

0:25:550:25:57

in the last few years, is being able to expect to beat Alistair.

0:25:570:26:00

I mean, I'll maybe not expect to,

0:26:000:26:03

but not think of it as completely crazy if I do.

0:26:030:26:07

I think Jonny obviously aims to, um,

0:26:070:26:10

to be the main man in world triathlon.

0:26:100:26:14

It would be a major achievement, not just because his brother

0:26:140:26:18

is his brother, but because Alistair is the best there has ever been.

0:26:180:26:22

COMMENTATOR: 'He's coming home, he knows he's got it now,

0:26:220:26:24

'it has been an absolutely fabulous performance.'

0:26:240:26:27

'Alistair Brownlee is the Olympic triathlon champion!'

0:26:270:26:31

No male triathlete has ever retained their Olympic title, have they?

0:26:310:26:35

So, you could be the first.

0:26:350:26:37

And to have won two Olympic golds, for you, would just eliminate all

0:26:370:26:40

the World Championships in between, they'd be by the by, would they?

0:26:400:26:43

Yeah, absolutely.

0:26:430:26:44

I think, um, the one day in August this year makes the other

0:26:440:26:49

four years, um, a bit irrelevant, really.

0:26:490:26:53

That said, if Gomez wins it, then it becomes very relevant, doesn't it?

0:26:530:26:58

And you still fancy yourself as the best one-off racer, do you?

0:26:580:27:02

I like to think I'm still the best one-off racer,

0:27:020:27:04

um, but, yeah,

0:27:040:27:07

I'm not sure I've proved it or it's been tested in the last year or so.

0:27:070:27:10

But I think you've got to tell yourself that,

0:27:100:27:12

and, you know, I think if I can be in the shape

0:27:120:27:16

that I was in London, I think

0:27:160:27:17

I can be in position to win any kind of triathlon,

0:27:170:27:19

and I'd like to think I'd be better than that,

0:27:190:27:22

so, you've just got to keep telling yourself that and train towards it.

0:27:220:27:25

I think everybody needs to recognise that we're not just

0:27:250:27:28

talking about a couple of brothers from next door, we're talking about

0:27:280:27:31

the best triathletes there have ever been in the history of the sport.

0:27:310:27:35

Someone close to both of you told me once

0:27:380:27:40

that when the two of you have finished with triathlon,

0:27:400:27:42

one of you will be successful and one of you will be happy.

0:27:420:27:45

Which one do you think you were?

0:27:450:27:47

I think people would probably say that, um, I'd be successful,

0:27:470:27:50

because people would think that, like, I'd be driven

0:27:500:27:53

and I'd want to do something else.

0:27:530:27:54

If you ask him this question, he thinks he might be a history teacher

0:27:540:27:58

somewhere, but he'd be a useless teacher, I can't see him doing that!

0:27:580:28:01

I think I'd be the happy one.

0:28:010:28:03

I'll do what I want to do, whether it is teaching or still

0:28:030:28:06

involved in sport, and that'll keep me happy.

0:28:060:28:08

I can't see him not been involved in sport at some level, but I could see

0:28:080:28:12

that being coaching kids, you know, being on a track on a Tuesday night.

0:28:120:28:16

He really likes the idea that he's going to be able to make

0:28:160:28:19

lots of money, um, in stocks and shares or something.

0:28:190:28:22

Whether that leads to financial gain

0:28:220:28:24

or unhappiness or whatever, I don't know.

0:28:240:28:26

But he'll try his best at it.

0:28:260:28:28

Would you invest in him?

0:28:280:28:29

If he puts his own money in, I'd go with him.

0:28:290:28:31

But I'd only ever copy his investment,

0:28:310:28:33

so, I wouldn't let him do my money on his own.

0:28:330:28:36

Some days, I wake up and think, actually,

0:28:360:28:39

I'd love to do something else, you know,

0:28:390:28:41

something in business or a completely different career,

0:28:410:28:44

and prove that I could be successful at something else.

0:28:440:28:46

Other days, I wake up and think, "Nah!"

0:28:460:28:48

I could live a nice life where I ride my bike to a cafe every day

0:28:480:28:52

and not worry too much. So, who knows?

0:28:520:28:55

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