Welcome to Edition 12 of Bob Babbitt’s Endurance World Newsletter.
In this issue, we're celebrating the great Michellie Jones:
I think you can make a very strong argument that Michellie Jones is the greatest all around female triathlete of all time: 2-time ITU World Champion, XTERRA World Champion, 8-time Escape from Alcatraz Champion, Olympic Silver Medalist, and Ironman Triathlon World Champion.
But my favorite thing about Michellie, is after all these years, just like me, she still loves to race. So here’s to my racing buddy!
An Olympic silver medal + an Ironman Triathlon World Championship gold medal = a spectacular Hall of Fame career!
I chatted with Michellie about her legendary career for a Babbittville Radio podcast.
In September of 2015, Michellie Jones was inducted into the ITU Hall of Fame. I chatted with Michellie that evening after the ceremony. She talks about getting into the sport that she loves so much, and why she is still loving the racing and training 15 years to the day after her silver medal in Sydney.
The day before Michellie Jones was inducted into the ITU Hall of Fame, she and sight-impaired paratriathlete Katie Kelly joined me for a chat before the ITU Paratriathlon in Chicago. Michellie was pacing Katie and hoped to get to Rio to help her bring home some hardware of her own.
Michellie and Katie were successful in their quest, and in a few weeks they are heading to the Paralympics in Rio. Michellie recently came on the radio show to give an update on their paralympic plans.
It was the week of the first-ever Olympic Triathlon in Sydney back in 2000. Michellie and I posed with Olympic Barbie as she got ready for the Olympic debut of the world's greatest sport. On race day Michellie missed out on the gold by two seconds in a sprint finish. Being the total class act that she would always be, she never spoke of losing the gold but instead she spoke of winning the silver. Also, even though the woman who beat her that day went positive for drugs a few years later, Michellie never expressed any bitterness or anger. She told me that she could live with every decision she made during her amazing career and would always be content with her silver medal. Maybe that is why she just might be the greatest female triathlete in history.
