ITU has received word from the International Olympic Committee IOC) that our quota of 55 men and 55 women for the London 2012 Olympic Games Triathlon will stay at the same level.  As well, we will continue to just have the two medal sports; the men’s and women’s individual triathlon.

Based on the success of our two events in Beijing, the tremendous growth of the sport over the past Olympiad, and the recent high profile success of the new Dextro Energy Triathlon - ITU World Championships Series, we felt justified in requesting an increase in the quota.

As well, our request for the new 4 x Mixed Relay event was also left off the 2012 programme.  As 2009 was our first World Championship in the new team format, we did wonder if the request was somewhat premature, but we felt strongly that we needed to send a strong signal to the Olympic movement that this format would be a very exciting addition to the programme.

The ITU Executive Board will be developing a strategy to continue the campaign for the 4 x Mixed Relay to be included when the programme is again reviewed following the 2012 Olympic Games.  We are receiving lots of encouragement from inside the Olympic family plus media and television to use the next three years as a building phase for this team event so we are well positioned for the 2016 Games.

We will be looking to all Continental Confederations and National Federations to establish the 4 x Mixed Relay as part of their championship and club events.