Legends of Triathlon: Javier Gómez – Hall of Fame Beckons!
Triathlons living legend Javier Gómez has credentials that speak for themselves: Five-time ITU World Champion, two-time Ironman 70.3 World Champion, Xterra World Champion, five-time ITU European Champion, Olympic medalist. Always on the lookout for the next challenge, which happens to be the PTO 2020 Championship at Challenge-Daytona.
Whilst the Triathlon Hall of Fame beckons for Javier Gómez, the titles and honours are not what make him a living legend. Gómez has that special ingredient; pure physical dynamism—the creativity to reinvent himself in endurance sport. The Spaniard is a human chameleon within the world of triathlon having the unique ability to blend into any endurance environment with ease and never stop adapting. While all professional athletes exhibit extraordinary skill and physical ability, some of them rise above their peers, wowing spectators and athletes alike, not only with their talent but also their determination and fortitude. Javier Gómez is such an athlete, an inspiration to all triathletes, inspired by his tenacity, dedication, discipline, hard work, and success.
Javier faced more than a few obstacles on his climb to the top. Having always been active and enjoying all different sports, Javi discovered triathlon in 1998. He made his debut in the Olympic-distance triathlon at the age of 15. Gómez evolution was extremely rapid; he won practically all the triathlons in which he participated in his category and was achieving high placings in open categories when he was still a junior. However, despite his fast progress, in December 1999, the medical services of the CSD detected a cardiac anomaly and he was prohibited from being selected to represent Spain in international competitions. Gómez was not going to let that stop him, and with the support of different world-ranked cardiology specialists, he decided to fight to recover his international license and demonstrate he could train and race at the highest level.
In November 2003, thanks to the intervention of a prestigious English physician, Gómezi finally recovered his license. Despite being out of condition and with only three weeks of training, he went to New Zealand and won the under-23 World Championship.This result brought Javi’s sports career to a turning point. With the freedom to compete internationally, he decided to attempt to qualify for the Olympic Games in Athens. He competed in his first European Championship (Valencia) and World Championship (Madeira) achieving excellent 8th places in both. However, in a controversial decision he was excluded from the Spanish Olympic Games team. Putting 2004 behind him he began the 2005 season with hope. However, the CSD again removed his license “irrevocably”, without anything having changed in his situation. It was at the beginning of the 2006 season, after several months of fighting and visiting more international cardiology specialists, that Gómez finally recovered his license. He went on to win 3 ITU World Cups in that year.
Legends of Triathlon – Greg Welch – Grand Slam Glory
Since 2006 Javi has accumulated one of the best records ever achieved in triathlon history: Five-time ITU World Champion, Olympic Silver Medalist in London 2012, twice Ironman 70.3 World Champion, five-time ITU European Champion, X-Terra World Champion, ITU Half distance European Champion, and 2 times Champion of the prestigious Hy-vee Triathlon together with other top results including double-digit wins in ITU World Cups and World Series races.
In 2019, prior to the onset of Covid lockdowns the Spanish superstar returned to ITU and World Triathlon Series racing, with his sights on a place at the Tokyo Olympic Games. Finishing second in his first WTS race back in Bermuda, Gomez scored five top 10 finishes to close the season third in the overall rankings and underline his ability to compete at the very top of the sport. As the first athlete ever to win five ITU World Championships and with a 122 ITU races under his belt, amassing a total of 83 podiums and 45 wins, any thoughts of excluding him from the ESP Olympic Games Team would be more controversial than the decision to exclude this national icon in 2004.
Having found success at both ITU and Half-Iron racing the Spaniard always looking for the next challenge took on the ultimate test in this most unique of sports – a full Ironman. Other than being an unstoppable force, with credential that are arguably unmatched in the field of endurance sport, Gómez had never completed a full competitive Ironman before marking his debut at the Ironman Asia-Pacific Championships in Cairns, Australia, in 2018, finishing on the podium with a second-place. A result that would take him on an unprecedented journey into uncharted territory at the Kona Ironman World Championship where he finished – in his own words “quite disappointed” – 11th place having gone out too hard on the bike leg. A year later Gómez won his first full Ironman distance race at Ironman Malaysia, with a course record of 8:18:59. He received another qualification slot to the Kona 2020, now rescheduled for February 6, 2021 due to the global pandemic. Until then Gómez next long-distance race will be PTO 2020 Middle-Distance Championship at Challenge-Daytona.
From overcoming restrictions on a heart condition as he was starting out to now staying at the top later in his career, Javier Gómez takes it all in his stride. Not only is he world-class whether it’s run, bike or swim, the distance doesn’t matter either. From sprint to Iron-distance events, Gómez knows how to win titles and can rightly claim to be one of the greatest endurance athletes of all time. There is no question that he has earned his place within the dynastic order of Triathlon and it can only be a matter time before his legacy will honoured in World Triathlons Hall of Fame.
