Michellie Jones

Michellie Jones started competing in the triathlon in 1990, and won the Olympic distance event world title in 1992 and 1993. Although she never regained that title, she won four more World Championship medals between 1994 and 2000. At the Sydney Olympics, she was one of the members of the heavily favoured home team, also featuring 1999 World Champion Loretta Harrop and 2000 winner Nicole Hackett. The race ended with a show-down between Jones and Switzerland’s Brigitte McMahon who edged out the home favorite by sprinting away in the final metres, for a difference of only two seconds at the finish line. In 2005, Jones converted to the Ironman event, which is four times the distance of the Olympic event. In 2006, she won the World Championship for that distance at the sport’s home, Hawaii’s Kailua-Kona, in only her third Ironman event.