Greg_Bennett_(triathlete)
Greg Bennett (triathlete)
Australian athlete (b.1972)
Greg Bennett (born 2 January 1972, in Sydney, New South Wales) is a motivational speaker, corporate trainer, and entrepreneur. He is a retired professional Olympic athlete from Australia. He competed in triathlon since the age of 14[1] as a student at Newington College (1984–1989).[2] Greg became a dual Australian and USA citizen in 2012.
Bennett has won two International Triathlon Union World Series titles, one Triathlon World Championship, and six World Cup titles. He was ranked the world's number-one triathlete in 2002 and 2003. Bennett qualified for the Australian Olympic team at Athens, 2004 and Beijing, 2008 Summer Olympics. At the 2004 Summer Olympics. He placed fourth with a total time of 1:51:41.58.[3] Greg won three Australian National titles in 1998, 1999, and 2000 (long course) and two Oceania titles in 1998 and 1999.
Bennett started eighty-two ITU World Cups, won six, and was on the podium twenty-three times. Bennett represented Australia at thirteen World Championship Triathlons, three World Duathlon Championships with a silver medal in 2002, two Goodwill games, and qualified for two Australian Olympic teams.
Bennett won the world's richest ever Triathlon prize purse in 2007 by winning all 5 of the Life Time Fitness Grand Slam city series, which included the LTF Minneapolis Triathlon, Nautica New York Triathlon, Accenture Chicago Triathlon, Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles and the Toyota USA Open Dallas Triathlon.
Bennett won the Life Time Series for three consecutive years: 2006, 2007, and 2008. Greg won eleven of fifteen starts; he was second in one and third in the remaining three. Bennett placed second in the 2009 Life Time Fitness series even after being hit by a motorist in August 2009 after a training ride in his hometown of Boulder, CO.[4]
Bennett won the 2011 World Championship (no drafting) in Des Moines, Iowa, just shy of his 40th Birthday.
Bennett was voted Triathlete of the Year in 2003 and 2007 by Triathlete magazine and voted top 15 greatest triathlete of all time by Inside Triathlon Magazine 2012.
Bennett raced professionally for 27 years. He competed in over 500 professional Triathlons and won 100+ international races.
Greg Bennett is married to US Olympic Triathlete Laura Bennett. Laura Bennett raced the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2012 London Olympics and, like Greg, finished in 4th place in Beijing.[5] Often heralded throughout their careers as the ‘world fittest couple,’ there’s little debate that the Bennetts were worthy contenders of that title during their 16 years as Married Professional Triathletes.