Alistair and Jonny are two British brothers who won Gold and Silver in the
same game of Triathlon at London Olympics 2012 and became first to achieve the goal in 112 years. They have shared their life time experience of driving and racing together, passing their driving tests in second attempt, each other’s driving, personal life and above all how they felt after winning Gold and Silver with friends, family members and countrymen chanting slogans in their favour.
Jonny: Alistair has twice nearly killed me with his driving. We weren’t far from our house when an elderly couple reversed out into the road without looking.
Alistair braked and swerved to avoid them and we ended up going through a concrete barrier and into a dry stone wall. My legs were pinned down by the crumpled metal and I had to be cut out. The car was a write-off and the police said we were very lucky.
Another time he took a corner too quickly on an icy road and went straight on instead of going around it. We ended up in a ditch, which was a bit embarrassing, especially when a passer-by refused to help us out – but made a point of telling us he knew who we were.
Alistair: Jonny is the worst kind of backseat driver – it’s like having a cross between a driving instructor and your own personal critic next to you. He says things like, ‘Ooh, you were a bit close to that kerb then, weren’t you?’, ‘You should have got into that lane earlier’, or ‘You should have indicated then.’ I like to do the driving between the two of us because I like being in charge.
Jonny: We both think we’re the better driver. We both passed our tests second time round so it’s a draw there, although I only hit a kerb in my first test which, apart from that, went perfectly, whereas Alistair in his first test shot across a crossroads he claims was unmarked. That, in my book, is a worse offence. I think I’m a much better driver.
Alistair thinks he is but he takes corners too quickly. He reckons I’m too boring and steady. All I know is that when we go karting, I always win.
Alistair: A million people came out to see us win the Olympic triathlon. It was the most amazing race we’ve ever been in. There were so many people urging us on. The cheers we received when our names were announced will never leave us.
The crowd were so loud we couldn’t hear each other even when we were a metre apart. All our friends and family were there, even second cousins and schoolmates we haven’t seen in many years. I even recognised some of them leaning over barriers during the race. It was a welcome distraction from the pain. We’ll never experience such a day again for as long as we compete.
Alistair: Before I crossed the line I had to look back and check where my little brother was. I’ve always looked after him so when I came to the finish line I turned around to see how he was faring.
Seeing him running down the home straight, guaranteed a medal, was as happy a moment for me as when I crossed the line to win gold. We’d planned to stop and go over the finish line together. But the authorities said they would see that as trying to manipulate the result and we’d have got into trouble.
Besides, if we had there was always the possibility that Jonny would have taken off and tried to beat me. If he did I would have tripped him up! When I realised I’d done enough to win the race, I wanted to stop a few metres before the finish line, wait for Jonny, hug him and then, as the athlete who had obviously won, jog over the line with him right behind me. The fact that a Spaniard came between Jonny and me meant that we couldn’t carry out the plan.
Jonny: Our over-riding emotion at the end was sheer relief. A great deal of expectation had been heaped upon our shoulders by the public, by the sport, by the media and especially by us.
I collapsed out of exhaustion. It’s not that uncommon to see triathletes collapse during a race but it doesn’t happen very often afterwards, and it’s certainly never happened to me before. I’d over-exerted myself in trying to make up the 15 seconds I’d lost carrying out a time penalty and that, combined with the warm weather, was a bit much. It didn’t help that I’d drunk tons of water immediately afterwards and threw it all up.
When I was lying on the ground and having ice packs stuck to me, Alistair was the least concerned person there. He kept looking at me as if to say: ‘Come on, get up now. Stop being a drama queen.’
Alistair: This is the start not the end. There’s the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014, where the plan is to win gold and silver – and that’s gold for me, by the way – and gold in the team event for England.
Then there’s the next Olympics in Rio. The authorities are looking at introducing the team event for the Games, which means Jonny and I have the chance to win two medals.
The one thing better than winning gold and bronze as individuals at the London Games would be to win a team gold together in Rio.
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