Javier Gomez talks old school values in a new age sport and the future of tri

He may have hung up the tri-suit for good, but as one of the sport’s greats, Javier Gomez is now hoping that some of that star power will rub off on the next generation as he moves into phase two of his career: the pro coach.

Last year was a watershed moment in the history of triathlon, as three of the biggest names in the history of the sport called time on their illustrious careers – five-time Ironman world champion Daniela Ryf, two-time Olympic gold medallist Alistair Brownlee, and five-time world champion Javier Gomez.

Gomez and Brownlee’s departures in particular signalled the end of a golden era for the sport. For the generation who grew up with these titans of tri – this writer included – their absence still smarts. But, as the wise Dr Seuss once said – and as Brownlee paraphrased in his retirement post – ‘Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.’

And today we’re positively beaming as Gomez pops up on our screen, speaking to us from Pontevedra, his hometown and base for his newest, and somewhat pressure-filled, project – coaching the Spanish junior tri team to glory at the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games.

Gomez remains Spain’s only Olympic triathlon medallist. Alberto Gonzalez Garcia finished eighth in Paris last year, but there’s been no hardware since 2012, when Gomez took silver in between the Brownlee brothers in London’s Hyde Park.

“You know, Spain isn’t the UK or other countries with way more investment in the sport and way more people doing sports,” admits Gomez.

“I think we have a pretty good team, but it’s not realistic expecting to get medals at every Olympic Games. We have to work towards that and try to improve at every level.

“The federation is doing a good job and we have some young juniors with potential to do good things in LA and Brisbane, but they need a lot of work and understanding as to what is required to perform at the highest level, and that’s what I’m trying to help with.”

The 41-year-old’s new role isn’t just lip service, it’s an at-the-poolside-each-morning position. As is fatherhood – Gomez’s daughter Olivia, with wife and former pro Anneke Jenkins, arrived at the end of 2022 – which is why he took the job on the condition that the whole team would move to Pontevedra, where Gomez was also based throughout his career.

“I’m still figuring out how this is going to be my life,” admits Gomez. “We’ve been on two training camps and then I went to New Zealand, so it’s only in the last couple of weeks that we’ve finally settled at home here and started with the group. I don’t see it as a job really, I’m doing what I like to do. It’s actually a privilege.”

And how is the ‘old-timer’ keeping up with athletes most of whom are half his age? “I’m actually still quite fit, so I train with them quite a bit, especially running and cycling. I can keep up with them.”

Olympic Legacy

Of course Gomez isn’t the only great Spanish tri export. His good friend – and now also technical advisor for the Spanish tri federation – Mario Mola won three consecutive world crowns from 2016–2018, with the pair ensuring that Spain held the title for an incredible six straight years. A feat yet to be repeated.

But all national federations are acutely aware that such pairings are rare, requiring a lot of stars to align. So instead, the day-to-day task of reaching these lofty goals requires doing it the old-fashioned way – hard work, sacrifice and dedication to the job.

Hence Gomez’s involvement, one of the sport’s toughest athletes and one of the very few to be able to take the race to Alistair Brownlee, considered by many – including Gomez – to be the greatest short-course athlete that’s ever lived.

Gomez may have won more world titles than the Brit, and anyone else in fact, but on the Olympic stage Alistair was nigh-on untouchable. Yet, cruelly, we were only treated to one real Gomez-Brownlee Olympic battle, in London. For the Spaniard, the Games bring up mixed emotions.

“The thing with the Olympics is that there are way more disappointments than happiness. There are simply too many people for only three medals.

“But London, even though I didn’t win that one, was one of the best races of my career. I performed to the best of my ability, I didn’t make any mistakes, someone was just faster than me. A 29:15 [for the 10k] that’s the best I could do that day, and that’s what I did.

“On the other hand, there’s the [2008] Beijing Olympics when I raced injured and finished in fourth place with a bad performance. That was, yeah… it took me some time to recover from that mentally.

“I know in Beijing, racing to my normal ability, I would have won that race. So I was very mad with myself because obviously that’s my fault. I overtrained, I got injured before the race, lots of things happened.”

And then there was Rio, 2016. The world was poised for a Brownlee-Gomez rematch, as, quite remarkably, the top three favourites for medals were still Jonny, Javier and Alistair, the podium-placers from London four years earlier. But a month before the much-anticipated showdown, Gomez crashed while training on his bike and broke his elbow.

“It’s easy to say, could I have done this or that? But obviously the [Rio] course was good for me. I won the test event the year before, I was fit, I was ready.

“Maybe Alistair has a different opinion, but I think Alistair was probably better in London than in Rio, so maybe I had a better chance in Rio, I don’t know.

“It was very disappointing and frustrating, but after three, four days of being really upset, you just accept it and move forward. It was tough, but I’m not going to say if I could have won or finished second or third or whatever, but I probably could have been there in the mix.”

Gomez went for one last hurrah in Tokyo, in 2021, but a 25th-place finish was not how he wanted to end his Olympic career.

“The postponement from 2020 to 2021 wasn’t great for me. I mean, it wasn’t great for most, but obviously for the older athletes it’s one more year that you have to maintain consistency and stay injury-free.

“Then I got an ear infection the week of the race. I just felt flat, and while I don’t think I was capable of winning that race, I would have probably been top eight.”

An evolving sport

In Paris last year, the world was gripped by the rivalry and race that unfolded between GB’s Alex Yee and New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde; the former snatching victory from the latter only in the closing stages of the run. The images from the day were reminiscent of London 2012, when Gomez and Alistair reached across the finish carpet to shake hands.

“What Hayden and Alex are doing… they’re two great kids and great ambassadors for our sport. Those rivalries are good, too. It reminds me of mine with the Brownlee brothers. It was good for the sport here in Spain, it made it way bigger.

“Alex and Hayden are a different level, too – they can run faster than we ran back in the day, although they do have the carbon shoes and stuff that we didn’t have.

“But when they’re at their peak, they are better, they are faster. The rest of the field is getting more and more competitive, though, and it’s only natural that the sport keeps evolving and keeps getting better.”

While Gomez applauds the inevitable elevation in competition, the one thing he isn’t a fan of is the need for today’s generation of athlete to document their every movement.

“I love to watch the sport, and I appreciate the best athletes and what they do, but not so much what they sell on social media. For a fan, I can see how it’s doing. But as an athlete, you can go crazy with all that because you can see all this training that others might be doing, and it can mess with your head a little bit.

“You just have to just focus on what you’re doing. It can be a bit of a fake world and the younger generation needs to understand that. I’m happy that for most of my career social media wasn’t so important, and we had a bit more privacy.

“I think it also goes with your personality. I always tried to put my effort and my time into getting better as an athlete. I obviously did my social media, but not too intensely.”

Stick to a distance

Another change to the sport that doesn’t sit well with the short-course king has been the introduction of more sprint races in the World Triathlon Championship Series – the conduit to the Olympics.

“Maybe I’m old school, but I understand the sport as an endurance sport – around two hours, one hour 50 of racing. Olympic distance is a great combination of endurance and speed. Making it shorter for TV doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be more spectacular.

“You can make a marathon shorter, but then it’s not a marathon anymore, it’s the same with the triathlon. The distance has to be set.

“For the Olympic games, it should be Olympic distance. If they decide to go to sprint distance, I’m not a fan of that, but okay, let’s do a sprint distance. But the athletes need to know what they’re training for.

“Qualifying in a sprint event for the Olympic Games doesn’t make sense to me and I don’t think it happens in any other sport.

I also think instead they need to find more interesting courses – more hills, more technical courses, like Madrid and Auckland, those were always my favourites.”

A massive change to pro racing in recent years has been the sheer number of new races and series to the calendar, something which on the one hand is great for the growth of the sport but for Gomez poses an added hurdle.

“I think it generates quite a lot of confusion for people who are not really in the sport. Like, how many world champions do we have in different organisations and different distances?

“I don’t know how to do it, but I think there are too many races and too many different organisations. I’d like to see one proper world championship.

“With T100, I like the format as an athlete, but I think non-drafting races are a bit harder to sell to the audience. I really appreciate seeing a great cyclist on his own on the TT bike, but for someone who doesn’t really follow the sport, it’s just one guy riding the bike.

“I think drafting makes it a bit more TV friendly. I’d like to see T100 and Ironman together, doing a big series for long distance… but I know that’s not going to happen.”

Inspiring the next generation

While Gomez won’t get the chance to experience whatever the future has in store for tri out on the race course, he is at least in a privileged position to guide those who will.

And for the lucky youngsters who will receive his world-class tutelage, how does he hope his racing legacy will inspire them to emulate his success?

“If I can give them advice with my experience of over 20 years of racing on how to train, how to approach races, and if they can improve because of that, I’ll be happy,” he concludes.

“In those years racing the Brownlees, I think that we were the first complete athletes – good swimmers, bikers and runners. I think we raised the level in those years and in Spain, at least what I see here, the sport changed. It’s a much more established sport, everyone has heard about triathlon, everyone heard about those British brothers that raced me.

“I see so many triathlon clubs here in Spain now, lots of kids doing sport in almost every town. And that didn’t happen when I started, so I’m proud to see how much it’s grown during these last 20 years. I guess I have something to do with that. Not everything, but some. I’m happy if that’s my legacy.”

We can already hear the Marcha Real blasting out over Brisbane.

Thanks to Six Senses

Our thanks to Six Senses Kaplankaya, Türkiye for the time with Javier Gomez. Spaces are available on training camps with the man himself, who says: “I’m thrilled to be the ambassador for this extraordinary multisport retreat by Roots Adventure Travel at Six Senses Kaplankaya. This retreat is a fantastic opportunity to immerse ourselves in the beauty of nature, push our physical limits, and bond with like-minded individuals. I look forward to sharing my experiences and inspiring others to embrace the outdoors, improve their performance, and find joy in the journey.”