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Courtesy The National Post Image Courtesy- Harry How 
With a silver-medal win in the men's triathlon yesterday, Canadians have set in motion the evolution of the sport from an individual event into a team one.
Borrowing tactics from the Tour de France, Triathlon Canada and silver medallist Simon Whitfield have effectively reinvented the sport -- with winning results.
Mr. Whitfield, 33, used a 25-year-old Canadian non-contender as a "domestique" who saved him energy during the cycling stretch of the race.
Triathlon purists -- those who believe the sport has always been lone wolf in nature -- have criticized the controversial move.
But Triathlon Canada officials say the sport has been shifting toward a team direction and Canada just capitalized on it first.
"Our goal is medals, not just to show up and be good Canadians. It's a change in the paradigm. It's a culture shift. ... Why not be the first ones to get out and do it and make everyone react to us?" said Alan Trivett, Triathlon Canada's executive director. "We played within the rules."
The triathlon involves a 1.5-kilometre swim, 40-kilometre bike ride and 10-kilometre run, and generally takes athletes less than two hours to complete.
Mr. Whitfield, a Kingston native who now lives in Victoria, last won a gold eight years ago in Sydney, then fell to an 11th place finish in Athens.
Upon Mr. Whitfield's request in June, officials at Triathlon Canada drafted Colin Jenkins from Hamilton to serve as his training partner. They picked Mr. Jenkins-- who did not qualify for the Olympics -- over higher-ranking athletes because he is a strong swimmer and cyclist, a perfect "domestique" for Mr. Whitfield.
Yesterday, the team tactics panned out for Canada.
During the race's 40-kilometre cycling leg, Mr. Jenkins battled it out at the front of the pack, chasing breakaways and allowing Mr. Whitfield to ride in his draft and save energy for his run.
After the bike leg, Mr. Jenkins placed fourth, while Mr. Whitfield sat in 12th, relatively rested up for his run.
During the run, Mr. Whitfield dropped back in the final kilometre before sprinting past the sport's current top three -- Bevan Docherty of New Zealand, Javier Gomez of Spain and Germany's Jan Frodeno.
He was ultimately overtaken by the German in the last 30 metres.
After the race, Mr. Whitfield split his $15,000 silver medal bonus with Mr. Jenkins and vehemently defended his push for a domestique.
"I believe it's the evolution of our sport, and you're going to see more and more countries do it. And it worked spectacularly today. [Mr. Jenkins] was spectacular today.
"The communication was spectacular," said Mr. Whitfield, who intends to compete in the 2012 Games in London.
"It took courage to say that we wanted to do this, and we took criticism.... I got called arrogant, and I got called cocky ... and I said, 'Wait a minute. I thought you wanted to win,' " Mr. Whitfield said.
Mr. Jenkins finished in 50th place -- dead last among those who finished the race-- but treated Mr. Whitfield's victory as his own.
"I didn't really care about the rest of my race. I actually stopped and yelled at Simon as he ran by, it was so exciting," said Mr. Jenkins, who had not run in six weeks after being hit by a car.
That was not a problem: Mr. Jenkins admitted he had not trained to win a medal. He also denied that Mr. Whitfield was doing it for himself.
"It's evolving into a team sport.... A medal for the country -- come on, what more can you ask for, seriously?"
Although they admit it may be the only way to the podium, triathlon purists are criticizing the team tactics.
"I think there's going to be a lot of dissension with all this," said Kevin Mackinnon, who competed nationally from 1985 to 1993 and now edits Triathlon Magazine Canada.
Two decades ago, he opposed drafting, saying it would turn triathlon racing into a team sport.
"If the goal is to get a gold medal and that's where Olympics have gone, yeah, this is a great move. I got into the sport for the individual thing but as soon as you allow drafting, that changes the playing field completely."
He said that now, recruiting domestiques such as Mr. Jenkins could sour the sport for traditional triathletes who want to compete, not help the top dog.
He pointed to Paul Tichelaar, a 27-year-old from Edmonton who qualified for the Olympics and finished in 28th place yesterday. Ranked sixth in the world, Mr. Tichelaar declined to participate in the new team mentality.
"I think Paul has always made it abundantly clear he's not crazy about this whole thing and I can see where he's coming from. Simon just outsprinted him at the world [championships] in June, so he feels like he can compete with Simon. Now all of a sudden you're saying, 'Hey, you know the guy that you were neck and neck with 100 metres before the finish line at worlds? Now we don't want you to race him anymore, now we want you to help him.'"
Mr. Trivett said Mr. Tichelaar was released from any obligation to race as a team.
"He could race however he chose yesterday," Mr. Trivett said. "We wanted him to be a part of the team and his heart really wasn't in it. It didn't appear that he was really buying into the process, because while I don't believe it's controversial, it's not a guarantee."
Mr. Mackinnon also said more higher-ranking athletes -- such as Brent McMahon -- might be excluded with a Triathlon Canada system that favours domestiques.
The 27-year-old from Kelowna, B. C., was not invited by Triathlon Canada largely because he runs better than he swims, Mr. Mackinnon said.
"What we're now going to start seeing more and more in the sport is people who are swim-bike specialists whose sole job is to get a fast runner to the finish line, or to the start of the run in the best possible shape. It's absolutely no different than the Tour de France, the domestiques hauling their team leaders and making sure everything's taken care of until the big sprint."
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