NewsAn impressive new women's champion
Michellie Jones adds another world title to her already impressive resume
Published Wednesday, December 31, 1969
She was more than happy with second last year. She was more than happy with second at the Olympic Games in 2000. Other people seemed to think she shouldn't be, though ... and we get to thank some of those people for the fact that we have a new Ford Ironman World Champion.
"My federation thought I had failed at the Olympics," she said of her silver medal performance. "My expectations are very different to everyone else."
While many felt that she should have been disappointed with her runner up finish here a year ago, Jones certainly wasn’t.
“Sometimes you learn more from a race where you don’t win than one that you did,” she said at yesterday’s press conference.
True champions seem to think like Jones. They learn from every experience, and use that knowledge to become better athletes.
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Which is why we shouldn’t be surprised that Michellie Jones, a woman who has been competing in triathlon for 19 years, became an Ironman World Champion yesterday. Despite the fact that she once said she would never, ever, ever, ever do an Ironman, Jones managed to add another amazing highlight to an already impressive resume with her dominating performance here in Kona yesterday.
Coming into yesterday’s race, Jones had told us that she intended to stick to her own race plan, regardless of what the rest of her competitors were doing. She felt good about her chances she told us all last week – this year she wasn’t coming into the event recovering from a broken hip and she had two more marathon runs under her belt – but her first priority was to finish.
Then she found herself in the lead. A good lead. Enough of a lead that she could play it safe over the closing miles of the race to make sure she won.
“I backed if off over the last five miles,” she said at the press conference last night. “Everyone told me if you hold it together you’ll get it. I wanted to be a bit conservative. I definitely wanted to get to the finish, I didn’t want have a complete meltdown. It’s an Ironman. It can happen.”
Jones certainly didn’t have a meltdown. She got to the finish line well ahead of the women chasing behind her, and enjoyed the chance to revel in the moment with some of the most important people in her life.
“My twin sister was there,” she said. “Pete (Coulson, her husband), Paula (Newby-Fraser, her friend and coach), John Duke, and the guy who got me into the sport were there.”
If Jones had never won here in Kona, she’d still be considered one of the greatest athletes who ever competed in a swim, bike and run event. Now she’s added the “granddaddy” of all triathlon events to her resume, confirming her position in triathlon history … but she doesn’t think of her achievement in that light.
“Leading into 2000, Pete and I discussed things, and we felt that anything that happened for the rest of my triathlon career would be a bonus,” she said yesterday. “It’s not always about winning. I definitely have a passion about the lifestyle, although Pete always says I’ll be racing until I’m a grandmother. It’s not all about sport, though. I think I’m pretty balanced. I cook, I mow the lawn. I have interests out of triathlon – I’m into horse riding.”
That balanced lifestyle has now resulted in yet another title. All the long days of training, the early morning workouts … they have reaped another incredible race. For Jones, though, what it takes to be a world champion isn’t a sacrifice at all.
“To me triathlon is not a sacrifice, because it’s something that I enjoy,” she said.
Yesterday’s race truly was something that the 37-year-old could enjoy. What pleased her most were the simple things. “I get a ring,” she said with a big smile on her face. “It was great to win on my mother’s birthday, too.”
The fact that yesterday’s win makes Michellie Jones not only the world’s best short course athlete, but simply one of the world’s best triathletes probably impresses us more than her. In the end, though, all that matters is that we’ll see another classy Ironman champion at tonight’s awards ceremony.
