These things are almost always impossible to predict. Which makes this endeavor an amusing fantasy, not unlike playing the lottery. But honestly speaking, there are only 8 to 10 men in the field of 56 who have the foot speed and leg power to win.

It came first, and was very much unlike the men’s electric, exciting, adrenaline-rich Olympic four-man duel that would take place a day later.

Our embedded Olympic reporter Hector Fernandez got to see an incredible women’s triathlon and various track and field events before returning tired to the hotel. Here is his day 3 report from Beijing.

Are the Beijing Olympics just another totalitarian infomercial? Or do they signal something hopeful—China reaching out to free world values? Granting the Games to countries with mixed human rights records is not new.

Another update from the Olympics in Beijing courtesy of our embedded reporter Hector Fernandez. Hector checked out the women’s marathon and ran into a few triathletes a bit later.

In the final installment of our series on Team TBB coach Brett Sutton, the coach responds to many of the comments and questions posed by our readers in the forum and over email.

In what may have been a small preview of the 2008 Ironman World Championships, Andy Potts and Chrissie Wellington ruled impressive fields at the 2008 Timberman 70.3 triathlon festival.

It is not easy being a pro triathlete in a country that is home to several active Ironman Hawaii champions, but Germany’s Uwe Widmann keeps plugging away and he just recently finished 3rd at Ironman 70.3 Germany.

Slowtwitch.com heads to Beijing for some coverage of the Olympic Games. Embedded reporter Hector Fernandez checks in with this update from the first week in China.

Jenny Gowans won the 2008 Norseman Extreme Triathlon and was kind enough to send us her race report. She was looking for an adventure and a race she would need to treat with more respect than a conventional Ironman.

Øyvind Johannessen won the 2008 Norseman Extreme Triathlon in Norway and battled a tough course and an unhappy stomach along the way. Jenny Gowans was the first woman to finish the event.

Simon Thompson won the 2008 edition of the 5430 Long Course Triathlon with a fantastic closing run. Tim O’Donnell and Brian Fleischmann rounded out the podium. Joanna Zeiger ruled supreme in the women’s race.

Faris Al-Sultan led the 2008 Ironman 70.3 Germany from start to finish and held off hard charging Enrico Degasperi. Virginia Berastagui won the women’s race and thus defended her 2007 title.

In part five of our series, the Olympics are just around the corner. Canadian Colin Jenkins is packing his bags for Beijing and putting the final touches on his preparation for the Games. And, of course, there is that brand new limited edition Cervelo Soloist…

When Chrissie Wellington recently stormed to a second place overall finish at the Alpe d’Huez triathlon she put her competitors on notice that the Ironman Hawaii win wasn’t a fluke. For our “the bikes of the pros” series we take a closer look at her Cervelo P2C.

Dave Orlowski finished 3rd in the 1978 Ironman triathlon and is currently getting ready to return to Hawaii for the 30th anniversary. He shared with Slowtwitch some of his memories of that first Ironman plus what he is up to these days.

Verily velocity and victory vanquish vocal vacillations over the oft vilified vestments of open water swimming. In other words, speed will make you a believer in XTerra’s Vendetta wetsuit.

Some aerobars, functional is about the best you can say about them. This one, there’s an urgency to (as Pretty Willie sings it) lay your body down. (Does Slowtwitch know hip-hop too?)

Hurricane Bob is a popular triathlon columnist… for another publication. We love to read him on Xtri.com, and we love it when he visits here. He recently posted to an Ironwidow thread, and we asked if we could publish his post as an OpEd.

Friction is your friend, if you’re going around a tight corner on your bicycle and staying upright is your aim. But down there in your cycling shorts, friction is your enemy. What you need is a weapon worthy of the fight. We’re here to equip you.

In Part 2, we talk with TeamTBB coach Brett Sutton about training on his team, general training philosophy, technology and managing egos in the strongest team in triathlon.

Mother nature and safety concerns caused the organizers of the 2008 Whirlpool Steelhead 70.3 triathlon to change the race to a duathlon. We followed up with race director Tom Ziebart to find out more about the decision and related topics.

Yvonne Van Vlerken recently broke the long standing record of the great Paula Newby-Fraser over the Iron distance with her time of 8:45:48 at the Quelle Challenge in Roth, Germany. Find out more about this flying Dutch woman.

Marino Vanhoenacker ruled the 2008 Ironman 70.3 Antwerp and with it repeated his win from 2007. Belinda Granger was victorious in the women’s race.