Customer Reviews

Simon Says Gold: Simon Whitfield's Pursuit of Athletic Excellence

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An inspiring story of a young and determined athlete who forces himself to focus on the end result. What a marvellous reward to be the first ever athletic to be awarded the Gold Medal for the Triathlon during the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000. Born in Canada to an Australian father, Simon St. Quenton Whitfield chose to leave home in year eleven of his schooling and travel to Australia on the basis of the competitive nature of Australian sportsmen. He received a partial sports' scholarship to Knox Grammar School, located on Sydney's upper north shore, where his father had been a student in the junior school many years previously. Living in the boarding dormatory and aquiring new friends must have been a daunting task for a young person with only a paternal grandmother residing in Sydney. However Simon displayed incredible forbearance to improve his swimming and set new school records for distance running at his school. After careful consideration of competing as an Australian athlete, he realised he was truely a 'Canuck' and returned to his place of birth and Olympic glory to Canada.
However Simon's greatest show of determination was his Silver Medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in China. Having finished eleventh at the intervening games he was worried he would be considered a 'one games wonder'! With enormous courage he finished only a very short placed second behind the winner. When the vast majority of us will only watch the Olympic Games on television, this incredible athlete has etched his name into Olympic history and he has yet to compete in London! May his Australian genes help him. Go Simon.