Olympic stress over for Docherty

KENT BLECHYNDEN/Fairfax Media

BURDEN GONE: Bevan Docherty is looking forward to living a relatively stress-free life over the next few years.

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Triathlon

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For someone who reels out the top-three finishes with such regularity, triathlete Bevan Docherty sure has a lot of stress in his life. That, he says, changes now another Olympics have been done and dusted.

Docherty reflected on his second straight Games medal achieved on Tuesday just out of Beijing when he added a bronze to the silver he won chasing home Hamish Carter in Athens, and said what he was looking forward to most post-Olympics was to get back to what he calls a normal life.

There will still be the early rises for swim training, and the long pounding runs and endless sessions out on the bike. Nothing changes too much on that front for a world-class triathlete like Docherty. But what he won't have is the stress that goes with knowing one day on the calendar will effectively define the previous four years of your life. Certainly shape the next four.

That's why Docherty is now vowing to battle on for another Olympic cycle, all the way to London in 2012. He has unfinished business, and even though the stress goes away for a year or three, the ultimate goal stays right there fuelling the desire to box on.

"It's just been an emotional rollercoaster," said the 31-year-old Auckland-based triathlete of the last year. "You try to shut out a lot of things and try to focus on your sport. I give a lot of credit to my partner Cheryl. She's put up with a lot of crap this year and it's just good to get this out of the way, relax a bit, live a normal life and stop making so many sacrifices."

Docherty has been a class act ever since comng home for what must have been a frustrating bronze out at the Ming Tombs Reservoir. Given as he'd gone so close to gold in Athens, to once again have to settle for a minor medal in a riveting final dustup must have bugged the heck out of him. But he's presented nothing but a proud face after yet another podium finish.

As well as his Athens silver, Docherty won the same colour medal at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and was also runnerup in this year's world championship race in Vancouver.

By the very nature of his sport, Docherty says pressure remains a constant companion.

"It's a fine line. You need a lot of luck on your side to be successful," he says, citing teammate Kris Gemmell as a perfect example. "Three weeks ago he has 17 stitches in his foot. It's why you worry so much. Anything can happen and it can just destroy your career.

"It's been a stressful year worrying about that sort of stuff. I knew I had another medal in me and I still believe I'm capable of that gold. But I guess the stress is all about the uncontrollables, like the random drivers in Auckland who want to take you down."

Docherty hadn't changed his view too much after having a day to relive his race which essentially came down to a four-way sprint down the final chute between himself, eventual winner Jan Frodeno of Germany, Canada's Simon Whitfield who took silver, and fourth-place Spaniard Javier Gomez.

The Kiwi says he'll spend the next four years chewing over the race but figured at this point the key juncture came halfway through the run when Spaniard Ivan Rana made a move on an uphill part of the course. Docherty picked it as one of those key moments and went with him. "I expended a little bit more energy than I wanted chasing that down, and in the end it came back together anyway. I thought it was the key move. But those are the risks you take."

Then over the final stages this time round Docherty decided not to push it, as he had in Athens when he was essentially racing for a medal. "It was all about the gold this year," added Docherty. "With 500m to go it was almost a case of deja vu with Athens. In Athens I pushed the pace and I was more hungry for a medal as opposed to gold. This time I decided to hang back. I knew I had a better sprint than the others, but unfortunately the legs were shot."

Much was made of the "team" racing concept after both the Canadians and Kiwis used competitors to take on workhorse roles for their top two performers.

But though Docherty praised Shane Reed for his effort in this area - "Shane should be proud of what he did yesterday, he did an amazing job" - he didn't think the team concept would catch on in triathlon, as predicted by Whitfield.

"Unfortunately our sport is relatively new and financially it would be hard to organise something like that. There's just not enough money in the sport for it," said Docherty.

In terms of his racing future, the man they call Mr Consistency on the ITU curcuit pleaded for a little bit of understanding.

"I don't expect to have a fantastic year next year. I'll still chip away at it, but you almost have to slowly build up. That's what I've done over the last four years. This year I was happy race wise. For an old guy I can still hang in there and make a good living in the sport.

"It's a bit of an addictive sport. It's all about achieving your goals, and I won't be happy till I've achieved mine."

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