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Aireborough trio get Beijing Olympic calls
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| Debbie Flood |
WHEN young Horsforth triathlete Alistair Brownlee was named in the GB triathlon team for the Olympic Games in Beijing this summer it gave our district three Olympic stars to cheer for.
Alistair can now live the dream along with hockey player Jo Ellis from Yeadon and rower Debbie Flood from Guiseley.
Debbie already possess an Olympic medal having gained silver with the GB women's quadruple sculls squad in Athens.
She will be aiming to better that this time but her quad will certainly face some tough competition from the Chinese and German squads has has been evident in the recent World Cup series.
For young Brownlee, a 20 year-old student, his Olympic selection probably came earlier than he reckoned with as he was aiming for 2012 in London.
However his recent performances, including winning the World U-23 championship in Vancouver and gaining the Olympic qualification, has meant that he makes the trip this time.
Alistair said: "My original focus was 2012 but I am not treating Beijing as a practice run, I'm going to make the most of it."
The British Olympic Association announced on Friday that Alistair would contest the men's individual triathlon in a GB vest along with Will Clarke and Tim Don, who will be taking part in his third Olympic Games.
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| Jo Ellis |
Simon Clegg, Team GB 2008 Chef de Mission, said: "I am delighted to welcome these athletes in to Team GB. The squad has a great mix of experience and promising new talent, not least three World Champions among them (junior and senior). I wish them well in their final preparations for the Olympic Games and look forward to some exciting performances in Beijing."
Heather Williams, Team GB Triathlon Team Leader for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games said:
"We have prepared meticulously for the Olympic Games and will go to Beijing knowing that we are in the best position to bring back Britain's first triathlon medal."
Alistair lives in Horsforth and is well-known on the local athletics scene having competed in most of the local races over varying distances including the popular Chevin Chase on Boxing Day.
The Dewsbury-born athlete is a member of Bingley Harriers and he attended Bradford Grammar School along with his brothers Jonathan and Edward, who have also made their mark on the athletic scene.
Jonathan accompanied Alistair to the World Championships in Vancouver where he was placed third in the junior event. Jonathan also holds a European bronze medal and maybe at the 2012 Olympics we will have two Brownlee brothers representing GB.
Coached by Jack Maitland and Malcolm Brown Alistair grew up as a runner but always had a talent for swimming. In 2006 he was crowned World Junior Triathlon Champion and added the World U-23 title to his growing collection in Vancouver just four weeks ago. A third place at the Madrid World Cup earned him selection for the Olympics.
As well as winning the U-23 World title Alistair also won silver at the 2007 Rhodes ITU Triathlon World Cup, was 2007 ETU Triathlon Junior European Champion, 2006 ITU Triathlon Junior World Champion and 2006 ETU Duathlon Junior European Champion.
The year 2008 has so far been an amazing one for him. He won the Yorkshire Cross-Country Championships and the North of England Junior Cross-Country Championships as well as finishing fifth in the British Universities Cross-Country Championships in Wales.
In triathlons he gained experience in a number of countries in varied conditions finishing 43rd in the Mooloolaba BG Triathlon World Cup in Australia; 49th in the New Plymouth BG Triathlon World Cup in New Zealand; 15th in the Lisbon ETU Triathlon European Championships in Portugal; seventh in the Dunkerque French Grand Prix in France; third in the Madrid BG Triathlon World Cup in Spain and seventh in the Des Moines BG Triathlon World Cup in the USA.
Alistair's eyes are now firmly set on the date August 19, 2008, when two hours will settle his Olympic fate in Beijing.
Silver medallist
Debbie Flood was an Olympic silver medallist in the women's quad in 2004 and World Champion in 2006 and 2007. In 2007 in the quad she won two golds and a silver in the World Cup series and won the overall quad title for the series. She raced in the quad in the 2008 World Cup series, finishing first and third.
Debbie was a GB junior judo international after taking up the sport at Aireborough Leisure Centre and with Skyrac Athletics Club became a county level 1500 metres and cross-country runner and shot putter before she took up rowing. Her strength and athletic ability ensured rapid progress.
She won the junior title at the 1997 British Indoor Rowing Championships and the 1998 World Indoor Rowing Championships and then took the U-23 title at the British Indoor Rowing Championships in 1999.
Her international rowing career began with a bronze in the double scull with Frances Houghton at the World Junior Rowing Championships in 1998 and the following year they made an impressive U-23 debut, winning gold at the World U-23 Championships in Hamburg.
In 2000 Debbie also won gold at the World U-23 Championships this time in the single. She gained her first senior vest in 2001, finishing seventh in the double scull and sixth in the eight at the World Championships.
In 2002 she won the World Cup series in the double scull, also with Frances Houghton, after victories at Hazewinkel and Lucerne, and finished fourth at the World Championships in Seville.
The following season Debbie raced with Rebecca Romero in the double throughout the season culminating in a fourth place at the World Championships in Milan.
In 2004 Debbie raced in the women's quad. In the Olympic Games in Athens they qualified for the final by winning their heat and although they were unable to catch the fast-starting Germans they came through the field in great style to win an emphatic silver medal.
Debbie raced for much of the 2005 season in a double scull with Elise Laverick, winning a bronze at the World Cup in Lucerne and finishing fifth in the World Championships in Japan.
The World Cup in 2006 brought gold with the women's quad in each of the events at Poznan, Munich and Lucerne.
At the 2006 World Championships the women's quadruple scull fought an intense battle with Russia and were just beaten to the line in the dying metres of the race to take silver. In a strange twist of fate, their Russian conquerors later fell foul of a drugs test and the British women's quartet were restored, in January 2007, as rightful world champions once more.
Born in Harrogate Debbie was brought up in Guiseley but moved south to study Physiology and Biochemistry at Reading University, from where she graduated in 2005. She is currently living and training at Henley on Thames and is vice captain of the Leander Rowing Club.
Debbie is a committed Christian and in her spare time enjoys giving dinner parties for her friends and rowing team mates in Henley. She is also learning Chinese in preparation for the Beijing Olympics.
In Holland
Jo Ellis celebrated her Olympic selection in Holland where she was playing with the GB team. Originally from Guiseley, where she went to Guiseley School, Jo moved to Yeadon. She attended Sixth Form at Benton Park School and is now a student at Leeds Metropolitan University.
She started her club career with Ben Rhydding Hockey Club and now plays for Bowdon Hightown in Cheshire.
3:23pm Thursday 3rd July 2008
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