Cycling throws up problems

Cycling throws up problems for Hollie Avil in triathlon   

( TIMES ONLINE )

Hollie Avil’s first Olympics experience turned into a horror show when she pulled out of the triathlon after throwing up during the cycling.

Avil, who at 18 was the youngest in the competition, competed in the Games just days after receiving her A level results, but had gone down with a stomach bug in the 36 hours before yesterday’s race. After 45 minutes of the race, things went dramatically wrong when she threw up on the third lap of the cycling.

“I’ve ruined my brand new white shoes,” Avil said. “On the start on the third lap, I was struggling up the hill, got round the corner past the crowd and was sick again. I just couldn’t keep any fluids down. I finished the third lap then pulled over.

“I have always told myself I would never not finish a race and it’s hard to describe how I feel having to pull out. But it’s not great when you’ve got sick down your arms and legs. It’s the worst thing when everyone is cheering you on and you can’t keep going.

“It wasn’t the best 36 hours preparation. I was vomiting all the time, I couldn’t control it.” Avil had moved up to the front of the chasing pack in the cycling leg, having finished the 1,500 metres swim in 48th place.

Helen Tucker, the reigning world champion from Bridgend, had been among the leading contenders in the race, at the scenic Ming Tombs Reservoir, until the start of the run. But the switch from cycling to running divided the field, with Emma Snowshill and Vanessa Fernandes, the pre-race favourites, dominating.

Snowshill, from Australia, won the gold medal, finishing in one hour 58 minutes 27.66sec, more than a minute ahead of Fernandes, of Portugal. Another Australian, Emma Moffatt, won bronze with Tucker finishing in 21st place, 4 min 28sec behind the winner.

“I didn’t have the legs today,” Tucker, 24, said. “I had a good preparation, I didn’t feel awesome but I tried to stay in a good tactical position on the swim and the bike ride, so if there were any breaks I’d be in a good position. But when I got to the run my legs just felt really heavy.”

Tucker had missed all of 2007 with an Achilles tendon tear but refused to blame that on her performance. “I’ve had a good year considering the amount of running I’ve been able to do,” she said. “Hopefully, with a consistent base of running and no injuries, I can be up there in the next few years.”

Cruel luck

Cruel luck as Hollie Avil becomes Beijing virus' latest Olympic victim in the triathlon  

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British rowers Natasha Howard and Alison Knowles had to miss Sunday's eights final through illness, while six German rowers have been confined to bed.

Avil, the 18-year-old former junior world champion, was unable to keep down any food on Sunday and, despite completing the 1500 metre swim, pulled out of the race a few kilometres into the 50km bike ride.

"When I was on the bike I was sick and every time I took on fluids I was sick again," she said. "It's not great when you've got sick down your arms and your new white shoes are ruined.

"I have always told myself I would never not finish a race and it's hard to describe how I feel having to pull out."

Nor did the news get any better for Team GB when Bridgend's Helen Tucker, the world champion and a genuine medal hope, had a clothing malfunction in the transition from cycling to running that relegated her from sixth to 16th place.

"My shoe got tucked in when I put it on and I got caught up," she said. "It was a bit of a shocker of a transition."

Tucker fell further back in the 10km run to finish a disappointing 23rd as Australian Emma Snowsill enjoyed a runaway victory, though the 24-year-old Welsh woman played down the shoe incident.

"I just didn't have the legs today," she said. "I tried to stay in a good tactical position in the swim and the bike in case there were any breaks but when it got to the run my legs just felt really heavy. I'm really disappointed."

Help from Home

Hollie Avil's Help from Home 

( DAILY STAR )

MIDNIGHT at Bugbrooke football club on Monday, August 18 will be busy. 

It will be a do to put the Sunday farmhouse teas that ran all through July at No4 Church Lane into the shade: the night Hollie Avil could swim, cycle and run to an Olympic medal.

Beijing time is seven hours ahead of Bugbrooke village in Northamptonshire, but that has not put them off. Their Hollie, 18, is the new young British star of triathlon. They are putting up a big ­screen at the club and everyone in the village is invited.

“I think my race is on at midnight Bugbrooke time, but they are still going to go up there and cheer me on,” said Avil. “Just to know the village is ­supporting me really helps my confidence.

“I get people waving to me when I’m riding round the ­village. Most of the time I get them saying, ‘Hollie, I was ­waving at you but you didn’t notice me’. And I say, ‘Oh, sorry, I was just in my own world, focusing on my training’. “Which I suppose is a good thing. Drivers always beep their horn as well.

“It’s a leisure ride, my harder sessions are at Loughborough University with my coach.” Avil has gone from schoolkid to great British hope quicker than Chris Boardman used to whip around the track.

She gets the results of her A-levels in philosophy and ethics, English literature and language and PE on August 15, three days before the ­competition of her life.

She got up at 4.30am to fit it all in, dad driving her for ­swimming in Northampton. “Even though the exams are over I still do it now because my body is used to the ­routine,” she said. “I’ll probably keep it that way.”

But Bugbrooke looks after her. “The village wanted to do something to help me out,” said Avil. “People would say, ‘Could we buy you a pair of shoes, Hollie, or some training kit?’. Thanks to my sponsors I can afford my own kit, so they set up the 49 Club, which is like a lottery. There’s a £100 monthly prize and the rest goes in a fund called Help Hollie Hold Gold – hopefully all the way up to London 2012.

“It pays for little bits and bobs, for stuff I have to buy for my bike every now and then, or when I have to pay for hotels – little things that make all the difference. It’s nice because I feel the whole village is behind me.

“Friends of the family started it up. It’s run over e-mail and the internet. I send them a monthly e-mail to let them know how I’m getting on.”

This month’s could be special.

TRI247 Video

Annie Emmerson interviews 2008 Olympic hopefull Hollie Avil at the GB triathlon team launch.