Biography of Laura Bennett - U.S. 2008 Olympic Women's Triathlon Team

This unauthorized biography of Laura Bennett, the first woman selected to the U.S. 2008 Olympic Triathlon Team, may be modified from time to time, as additional information becomes available:

Born April 25, 1975, Laura Marie (Reback) Bennett was raised in a family of triathletes. Her father, Paul, and older brothers, David and John, competed in triathlons. Laura began competing herself at age 10.

In college she shifted her focus from triathlons to swimming. She had already experienced success on the swim team at Cardinal Newman High School in West Palm Beach, Fla., where she also competed in track and cross country. In college, however, she took her game to a new level as a member of the 1997 NCAA Champion 400 Medley Relay team at Southern Methodist University.

After graduating from college (with a B.A. in finance), Bennett returned to triathlon competition in earnest. In 1997 she was the second U.S. amateur at the World Championship in Perth, Australia.

In 2000, Bennett was the second alternate on the Triathlon Team.

2000 was also the year that Laura got together with her husband, Greg, an Australian triathlete. The two continue to help each other train and compete.

In 2004, Laura competed in all three U.S. Olympic trials, in Honolulu, Hawaii; Madeira, Portugal; and Bellingham, Washington. In each race, she fell short. As a result, she was denied a slot on the 2004 Olympic team. She was named first alternate, but that position did not offer her a chance to compete in Athens.

Her husband, Greg, on the other hand, did compete in the 2004 Olympics. He finished fourth.

Laura continued to compete in a number of prestigious events. In 2006, she was ranked number 1 in the world among women triathletes.

In 2007, Bennett won the BG Triathlon World Cup in Des Moines (aka the Hy-Vee marathon). Besides prestige, she walked away with a $200,000 prize.

On September 15, Bennett raced in the 2007 Beijing BG Triathlon World Cup. She described the course (which will also be the Olympic course) as follows:

“The Beijing Course is a solid course. The swim is one lap, which leaves no one to hide, but it is a bit forgiving if you can get on someone's feet. The buoys can cause some backups and breakups that don't occur in the one lap swim, so there are pros and cons for this type of course. The bike is a rolling course with about a 600-meter hill in it, not so devastating but challenging. The run is mostly flat with a short pinch of a downhill and a short pinch of an uphill. Two-thirds of the run course is on this rubbery blue mat which seems to zap the drive out of your legs, and on the bike it grabs your wheels. So that is an added challenge to the course.”

Despite the challenging course, Laura Bennett finished third overall and received the bronze medal. She was the first American to cross the line, though, defeating her friend and competitor, Sarah Haskins, by 79 seconds. As a result, she qualified as the first member of the U.S. Olympic Triathlon Team.

Bennett said, "I finally feel like I deserve to be there - at the Olympics. I've worked so hard to get here."

Bennett believes that qualifying for the Olympics so far in advance will give her an advantage in her training regimen:

“I won't have to rush into shape to try and make the team early in the year, which will allow me to peak at the right times. My weakness is my aerobic ability, by nature I am a racer, so sacrificing training for racing because of qualifying races would only take away from my top end performance at the end of the summer - the Games.”

Sources:

http://www.team-bennett.com/laurabio.php?z=L0

http://www.triathlon2007.org.cn/en/news/2007-09-15/16083.html

http://www.insidetriathlon.com/portal/news/news.asp?item=110781

http://universalsports.nbcsports.com/articles/show/18177

http://www.triathlon.org/media/profiles/laura-bennett.pdf

http://www.usatriathlon.org/sitecore/content/AthleteBios/LauraBennett.aspx

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More About Jarrod Shoemaker's Triathlon Victory in Beijing

As reported, Jarrod Shoemaker won the first men's slot on the U.S. triathlon team.

The U.S. Olympic Team's official site reports that Shoemaker beat U.S. contender Hunter Kemper by only 13 seconds. Andy Potts was 22 seconds behind Kemper. With two slots still open on the team, both Kemper and Potts could potentially still go to the Olympics.

The site also quotes Shoemaker as saying:

“It’s pretty incredible. It hasn’t sunk in yet. I had a really good swim, and all six of us were in that front pack. I knew it would come down to the run, so I tried to stay safe on the bike... I knew the guys were going to be on. It was a tough, tough race. Everyone was out there going for it.”

Second Member of U.S. Olympic Triathlon Team

Earlier, I reported that Laura Bennett won the first seat on the U.S. Triathlon Team.

The second seat goes to Jarrod Shoemaker, who was the first American to finish the men's marathon in Beijing today. In his personal web bio, Shoemaker describes the Olympics as a "long-term goal." Suddenly, it's become quite short-term.

As mentioned previously, there will be two subsequent qualifying marathons for the U.S. team. Congratulations to our first two Olympians!

And the First Member of the U.S. Olympic Triathlon Team Is...

Laura Bennett! She was an alternate in 2000 and 2004, but, after being the first American to cross the finish line in today's Beijing triathlon, she is guaranteed a spot on the Olympic team in 2008.

Bennett's comments: “It feels pretty awesome. It was a long time coming but it feels good to be here finally."

Tomorrow we will find out the first male member of the triathlon team, as the men run their qualifying triathlon September 16 in Beijing.

U.S. Olympic Triathlon Trials -- Tonight in Beijing

The first of three opportunities to qualify for the United States triathlon team is about to begin.

In Beijing, China -- on the same course that will be used next year in the Olympics -- the U.S. women atheletes will compete for a spot on the team on September 15 (due to the time difference, that is about 2 hours from now). The men will compete the next day.

In each case, the first American to finish will be on the Olympic team. So, one woman and one man will be selected this weekend.

Two more team members will be selected based on the Honolulu Triathlon on April 26, 2008. [correction: the second qualifier will now be held in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on April 19, 2008]

The final two members will be the first Americans to cross the finish line of the Hy-Vee Triathlon in Des Moines, Iowa on June 22, 2008.

This weekend's competitors include:

Hunter Kemper (Longwood, Fla. / Colorado Springs, Colo.) -- 2000 & 2004 Olympian; 2005 No. 1 in the World

Andy Potts (Princeton, N.J. / Colorado Springs, Colo.)-- 2004 Olympian, 2007 USAT Elite National Champion; 2007 Pan Am Games Gold medalist

Doug Friman (Alameda, Calif. / Tucson, Ariz.)-- 2004 Olympic Team alternate

Jarrod Shoemaker (Sudbury, Mass.)-- 2005 U23 World Champion

Brian Fleischmann (Jacksonville, Fla. / Colorado Springs, Colo.)-- Three-time USAT Elite Nationals runner-up

Matt Reed (Colorado Springs, Colo.)-- 2004 USAT National Champion

Laura Bennett (N. Palm Beach, Fla. / Boulder, Colo.) -- 2004 Olympic Team alternate; four-time ITU Worlds medalist

Julie Swail Ertel (Irvine, Calif.)-- 2007 USAT Elite National Champion; 2007 Pan Am Games Gold medalist

Sarah Groff (Cooperstown, N.Y. / Boulder, Colo.)-- 2007 ITU Aquathlon World Champion

Sara McLarty (DeLand, Fla. / Colorado Springs, Colo.)-- 2006 USAT U23 National Champion; 2006 ITU Aquathlon World Champion

Sarah Haskins (St. Louis, Mo. / Colorado Springs, Colo.)-- 2006 USAT Elite National Champion; 2007 Pan Am Games Silver medalist

Becky Lavelle (Minnetonka, Minn. / Los Gatos, Calif.)-- 2006 USAT Non-ITU Female Triathlete of the Year