Alistair Brownlee is thinking about legacy. Not in a weighty, intense sort of way, because that isn’t really his thing, but more in the context of what a few mates say.
It’s to do with that day in Mexico. The one five years ago when his little brother lost himself with heatstroke in the final 700m of a triathlon and Alistair appeared from nowhere and carried him over the line. The one that has three million views across various clips on YouTube.
As Alistair tells it, their friends have a punchline that goes something like this: ‘You two are basically famous for wobbling over a finish line together.’
Alistair Brownlee won gold in Rio while Jonny took silver but only Jonny has made it to Tokyo
Except it’s not always the mates. Sometimes Alistair goes there, too. ‘I quite like to take the p*** out of him a bit about that,’ he says. ‘Not loads but there’ll be a scenario, and I’ll mention that maybe he’ll need me to help him out. He takes it well.’
With that, there’s a little smirk. That same shy grin we saw so often from the top of so many podiums from one of British sport’s greatest champions.
But now he’s done. Or done in the Olympic sense anyway, because time has won again. At 33, with a tired body, Brownlee hasn’t made it to Tokyo and he won’t try for Paris, so his magnificent tally has stopped at two gold medals.
It stung when he knew his game was up. He had badly wanted to get there — he busted a hip, calf and ankle to pull it off, and he was a wreck when he turned up to attempt one last qualifier in Leeds a few weeks back. But he went, he had a go, he didn’t make it, and that part of his life was over.
The weirdest thing? He’s starting to feel quite OK about it. And quickly too. ‘I can look at myself and know I gave everything, which helps,’ he says.
But there’s more, because finally after almost a decade as an Olympic champion, he has started to let a few thoughts in.
Alistair's book, Relentless, explores the secret to sporting success with a host of top athletes
‘Pride is not a great emotion to have when you’re trying to achieve something else,’ he says. ‘You’re always looking forwards, but then when you close a chapter, like I just have, it has suddenly given me a bit of time to look back.
‘I’ve been thinking a bit about 2005, you know when London was awarded the 2012 Olympics? I never would have imagined then, as a teenager, that I would be competing, let alone winning one gold and then two.’
There’s that smile again.
‘I’ve been very lucky,’ he says. ‘It’s been amazing, really it has.’
And now it’s over to someone else, because for the first time since 2008, there will be a new winner on triathlon’s top step on July 26. Which is where the younger lad comes into this conversation, because Jonny Brownlee is still going. Not for long, because he’s 31 and he’s sure this will be his last Games. But his sequence shows a bronze at London 2012, a silver at Rio 2016 and a dream for the grandest finale of all.
‘I think it is obvious what I want,’ Jonny says, and we all know it.
Jonny Brownlee is going for gold in Tokyo after winning silver in Rio and bronze in London
Alistair says Jonny has a shot at gold: 'Going in as an underdog is a good position for him'
Jonny Brownlee is also thinking about legacy. Not in a weighty, intense sort of way either, because that’s no more a thing for him than it is for Alistair.
He is happy with his lot and what he has achieved. The other stuff, like how some might present him as a boy trapped in a big shadow? He’s not remotely offended because, as he puts it: ‘I have never been jealous of my brother — I am just proud to be Alistair’s brother.’
And also because Olympic bronze and silver medals are quite a prize. That collection puts Jonny one away from being the most decorated triathlete in Olympic history, though the more fascinating sub-plot of these Games concerns whether he can finally go that one step higher.
It is only when you speak to him that you can appreciate what gold would mean, or alternatively what it might feel like to come up just short, as the odds suggest he will.
Alistair still jokes about helping Jonny over the line when he suffered heatstroke in a 2016 race
‘I don’t think I could be 100 per cent content with my Olympic career if I didn’t get a gold medal,’ he
