Asia Triathlon

DOHA:  The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) praised the Doha Asian Games Organising Committee (DAGOC) for making the recent Doha Triathlon World Cup one of the finest triathlon events in the world.

The high commendations came in the form of an independent post-event report by the OCA yesterday which was composed by the on-site OCA observer Wolfgang Thiel.

Triathlon will be a first-time medal competition at the 15th Asian Games Doha 2006 and the ITU event held on March 3 was organised as a test to ensure Dohas Games readiness and an opportunity to introduce the sport to the people of Doha.

Brad Kahlefeldt of Australia took the mens title in 1hr 51mins 17 seconds followed by Mark Fretta of USA who finished in 1:51:22 seconds. Annabel Luxford of Australia won the womens event in a time of 1:59:36, with Joelle Franzmann of Germany taking her first ever silver 12 seconds behind.

The Doha World Cup is without question one of the very best triathlon events in the world! It could develop to an important stop on the ITU calendar in the future. The event has been hosted for the first time in Qatar this year and all athletes, coaches and officials were very impressed by the outstanding organization of the Doha Asian Games Organising Committee, reported Thiel in his official comments to the OCA on the first ITU World Cup of 2006.

The venue was extremely well conceived and laid out, which was similar the Olympic Games venue for the triathlon event in Athens. The transition zone as well as the starting area at the beach was up to very high international standards. Not only was the whole venue very clean and tidy but the overall security, briefing of athletes, facilities, the hospitality and transportation services were of standards that are exceptional, Thiel added in his report.

He praised on-site medical facilities and the personnel that manned the sites, as also the local and international media coverage that ensued prior and following the World Cup event.

The official OCA report also praised the expertise of officials from the organising committee including Khaleel Al Jabir, Director of Sports Department, Ahmed Yousef Al Mulla, Head of Water Sports and Cycling Section and Thanos Nikopoulos, Triathlon Competition Manager all working with DAGOC.

Mr. Abdulla Khalid Al Qahtani, Director General, DAGOC said the independent report has further enhanced Dohas readiness to host the 15th Asian Games.

The OCA report gives DAGOC lot more strength towards ensuring Doha 2006 is the Games of your life. The ITU Triathlon is one example of how the team here works hard with fine coordination to make any event a global success, Mr. Al Qahtani said.

Our own internal evaluation of the triathlon was extremely good and we are glad that the OCA experts review corroborates our evaluation. We have gained valuable experiences with this triathlon event.

DAGOC has undertaken to test a number of our planned sporting events in the lead-up to The Games. Our test event strategy comprises various levels of testing, from a full-scale event (such as last Decembers West Asian Games and the triathlon) to technology and operational tests Mr. Al Qahtani concluded.