Alex Yee was toiling in the 30C midday heat, 14 seconds behind his great rival Hayden Wilde, when a bell rang out on the Pont Alexandre III bridge. It was for the last lap of the men’s triathlon and sounded like a death knell for his gold medal hopes. Then he heard four words from a familiar voice that helped to change the course of Olympic history.
“Anything can happen, mate,” shouted Alistair Brownlee, the London 2012 and Rio 2016 triathlon champion, and one of the smartest minds in the sport. Those words dug into Yee’s brain as he mined deep into his reserves, absorbed the energy of a raucous crowd and started an extraordinary fightback.
