Docherty celebrates win

PETER MEECHAM/Fairfax Media

THE SPOILS: New Zealand's Bevan Docherty celebrates his bronze medal in the men's Olympic triathlon.

Relevant offers

Triathlon

Olympic stress over for Docherty Docherty celebrates win Docherty ready for London Kiwi brothers do their countries proud Docherty just needs a gold Docherty's teammate plays special role in bronze Docherty claims bronze in triathlon Warriner vows to run on in London Teamwork boosts NZers - up to a point Mum flies two flags as brothers face off

There's no such thing as a bad medal at the Olympics, and Kiwi Bevan Docherty's hung-over visage the morning after his third-place finish in the triathlon confirmed this.

While all of New Zealand may have been gutted that for the second straight Games Docherty, one of the nice guys of New Zealand sport, couldn't quite kick on for that elusive gold, clearly the 31-year-old Aucklander had had no trouble celebrating being two-thirds of the way to a full set of Olympic medals.

His bronze for finishing behind surprise German winner Jan Frodeno and Canadian veteran Simon Whitfield goes with the silver he won four years ago when he was pipped in a head-to-head battle by team-mate Hamish Carter.

But it was more about cheers than tears for Docherty, as he confirmed when he was asked whether he had watched fellow Kiwi Nick Willis' sensational run for bronze in the 1500m late in the Beijing evening.

"I was on the piss last night. Sorry mate," said Docherty, looking slightly the worse for wear, even with an Olympic bronze medal slung round his neck.

He didn't say how many it took, but by the look of his lean physique the bar bill wouldn't have been too high.

Docherty did review Willis' big run yesterday morning before coming in to face the media one last time at the Games, and for the record was suitably impressed.

"It was awesome. Obviously word spread pretty quickly in the Heineken House that Nick had got a medal.

"It's an honour for a Kiwi just to get a medal in such an event and I've got a lot of respect for the guy."

It's an attitude Docherty was very much taking of his own achievement as he headed home the Kiwi charge spectacularly (team workhorse Shane Reed was 34th and a distraught and injured Kris Gemmell 39th).

Missing gold by such a small margin once again only fuels his desire to kick on for another four years.

"I'm just going to keep on going," he said.

"I want the full collection now. It would have been good to get the ultimate gold this time round, but like I said after Athens, at least it keeps me hungry being just a couple of steps behind.

Given that Docherty remains such a perennial contender in these big races, he's probably wise to take such an attitude.

"On the circuit I get called Mr Consistency, and we've learned over the years that's very hard to achieve.

"We've definitely got the right formula, it's just finding those 11 or seven seconds that seem to haunt me."

- © Fairfax NZ News