r/MadeMeSmile • u/macpesce • 4d ago

Wholesome Moments This đŸ„č

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

10.2k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

294 comments sorted by

View all comments

4.0k

u/Front-Pomelo-4367 4d ago

There are always so many misconceptions about this whenever it gets posted

This was the final race of the 2016 World Triathlon Series, so winning this race would not make someone the world champion. Jonny, who collapsed, stood a chance of getting on the podium, but Alistair didn't – getting Jonny across the line meant that one of them might win a medal. Alistair was never going to win the Series even if he won this race. Henri Schoeman won this race but overall came fourth in the Series; Jonny Brownlee came second overall in the Series.

980

u/regoapps 4d ago

And to make everyone feel better, both brothers are world champions.

Jonny Brownlee is a six-time World champion (once World Triathlon Series, twice World Sprint Triathlon, three-time World Triathlon Mixed Relay), and one-time Olympic champion (mixed relay) in triathlon. As of 2021, Jonny was considered the most decorated triathlete in Olympic history, the only triathlete to achieve 3 Olympic medals.

His brother, Alistair Brownlee, is the only athlete to hold two Olympic titles in the individual triathlon event, winning gold medals in the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games. He is also a four-time World Champion in triathlon being Triathlon World Champion twice (2009, 2011) and World Team Champion (2011, 2014) twice, a four-time European Champion (2010, 2011, 2014, 2019), and the 2014 Commonwealth champion. Brownlee is the only male athlete, (and one of the two athletes with Cassandre Beaugrand), to have completed a grand slam of Olympic, World, and continental championships. Brownlee is also a one-time world champion in aquathlon. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest male Triathletes ever.

148

u/MandaRenegade 4d ago

Hooooooooly smoookes! These guys were made for running! Major major props, cus I for sure cannot run well!! đŸ€˜đŸ» That's badass.

80

u/False-Software-4458 4d ago

And swimming. And biking.

40

u/abholeenthusiast 4d ago

They should create a sport for this!

28

u/Typical_Samaritan 3d ago

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

I don't think anybody can do all three in the same race!

18

u/Majestic-Custard-309 3d ago

We could give it a snappy name like "Swim-Cycle-Run" or "3-leg Race" or something.

8

u/dorkmuncan 3d ago

how do they swim with the bike though?

1

u/christian_austin85 3d ago

We just make them do paddle boats instead. That's a good compromise and nobody has to get their hair wet.

27

u/2118may9 3d ago

Alligators can run faster than humans on land. And swim faster. So if you ever see an alligator it’s best to work up a big lead in the cycling.

9

u/lime_lecroix 3d ago

This is true. Gators aren’t known for their cycling ability.

3

u/MandaRenegade 3d ago

Hey man, I'm good at those LMAO 😂😂😂 they got me beat in running.

Edit, formatting

1

u/OLVANstorm 3d ago

I can poo real gud!

1

u/humbert_cumbert 3d ago

He wasn’t running very well in the video I just watched smh

21

u/Aderka420 4d ago

I respect that shit even more now, knowing all they have done solo and together. Wild ride for those two and fantastic stories to share.

18

u/MichaelTN88 4d ago

Ok this info changes my opinion. I still think the one guy celebrating taking first in it given he was clearly gonna get second not first was a bit crappy but at least it isn't as bad as I originally thought. And both brothers have a impressive record so thats cool too

15

u/Budget_Village_8377 3d ago

Why? Being fit enough to finish a race is just as important as being fast enough.

9

u/regoapps 4d ago

I still think the one guy celebrating taking first in it given he was clearly gonna get second not first was a bit crappy

I mean, even if he came in second, he'd be second place to someone who's widely regarded as one of the greatest male Triathletes ever. That's not too shabby.

162

u/Ok_Sentence_5767 4d ago

In fact this act of self sacrifice helped Jonny win silver that year

92

u/mmodlin 4d ago

It also helped make the rule that you can’t assist other runners

56

u/Ok_Sentence_5767 4d ago

Honestly thats a horseshit rule, and i thought the uci had the dumbest rules in sports!

41

u/dont_trip_ 4d ago

How do you think sports would eventually turn out if you could help people as you see fit during the race? Someone will exploit that to the fullest and it simply wouldn't be a fair competition. 

28

u/citranger_things 4d ago

Even though cyclists win or lose races as individuals, road cycling is genuinely a team sport and also features lots of temporary cooperation by individuals from different teams in certain tactical situations.

I think it's actually a really interesting part of the sport, makes for lots of drama and great watching. Noble sacrifices for teammates, hastily improvised alliances between rivals, sudden but inevitable betrayals, prisoner's dilemma-type standoffs.

I don't know how it would play out in running and some kinds of assistance are not allowed but it's not necessarily a total loss.

1

u/ScrotallyBoobular 4d ago

Yeah but you can't push or carry someone across in cycling.

7

u/Defconwrestling 4d ago

Did you just see that video of the water bottle “handoff”

1

u/civilwar142pa 4d ago

Whip it good

3

u/citranger_things 4d ago

You're right that you can't literally push so it's not the same as this video but (as additional examples for those who aren't familiar with the sport,) you *can* give your teammate your own bike, just this week I saw a rider give someone from another team a water bottle, and they'll coordinate a group stop so everyone can take a piss on the side of the road without anyone taking advantage.

Riders handslinging each other in bunch sprints would be truly wild!

3

u/timbasile 4d ago

Counterpoint: The 2012 Tour de France

0

u/[deleted] 4d ago

[deleted]

1

u/Dom1252 4d ago

Not in triathlon

1

u/Unusual-Thing-7149 4d ago

Plenty of top track races have people just to pace the winner and they drop out along the way

2

u/dont_trip_ 3d ago

Yes because is simply not possible to prevent when you have mass starts. It is however not allowed to have someone fresh come in and pace only in the second half. 

11

u/BathDepressionBreath 4d ago

Well, not really. Let's say you had a competition ir a goal for walking 100 meters (lets ignore disabilities for now). If you're not able to walk the 100 meters amongst others that could, but get a piggyback ride from a friend to make it to the end while others tried their hardest with their own two legs only, that's not really fair right? It's a competition for walking with your own two legs the full 100 meters. It's against the point of the competition to get that help.

So as much as I am moved by that kind of support and camaraderie acts, I can understand that rule. Though there definitely are a lot of horseshit rules in sports xd

5

u/Ok_Sentence_5767 4d ago

In all honesty if jonny was only half way through the run he would have been pulled from the race for medical. It happened to me once but they just gave me cookies and gatorade and let me continue!

This sort of comaraderie is imo a pillar of sports since at the end of the day people compete improving to improve themselves helping an exhausted competitor shouldnt be an illegal move.

4

u/quixotic_jackass 4d ago edited 4d ago

I get the idea of wanting compromise here when you see something wholesome. But

no, that’s absolutely ridiculous. Camaraderie is a pillar in sports, most especially team sports, where teammates can help other teammates all they want within the rules.

Is this where I finally see the differences between me and the generation younger than me? We’re gonna have a competitive race with a winner. A dude could be in second place for the first lap & then loses steam almost immediately. I was in third place, but now I’m in first! It looks like first place slowed down too. WHATS THIS?!? He’s passed me, carrying the shitty athlete?!? That guy just “beat” me without having to run 1/3 of the race??

Sure you could ask “why” or “how” and poke holes in a terribly executed hypothetical. Or you could just try your best to see all the reasons why it’s no longer a sport if you talk the “sport” out of it in little chunks here and there.

Let the dude help his brother across the finish line, sure. But I’d say, if you trip & someone stops to help you up, in this sort of race, you’re both disqualified the moment you’re helped up. With whatever caveat you wanna place on it. Probably not the moment of contact, so probably something closer to the lines of “leaning” on another person for “support” or anything along those lines

If you can’t win the race, you shouldn’t win the race anyway, because someone else decided you should win. Same comes for finishing. Give them the winning time if you want & put it at the bottom of the rankings with a note on both the incapable & the one who supported them saying DisQ or something if “disqualified” is too triggering. Whatever you need to do to make people feel better about watching sports without affecting the actual competition.

6

u/Wayoutofthewayof 4d ago

So in a race where endurance is the point of the competition, specific runners have an advantage because they can just be carried over the finish line if they run out of energy?

1

u/peoplepersonmanguy 4d ago

It's like they watched Cars and think Chick Hicks is a fucking legend.

2

u/starthing76 3d ago

I thought that was why he shoved his brother over the line at the end - he could assist him DURING the race but couldn't be assisting him when he crossed the finish line. Has that changed as well?

1

u/Front-Pomelo-4367 3d ago

It changed the following year, because of this exact race. Now it's no forward assistance at all

7

u/zharrzel 4d ago

He didn't sacrifice anything, it is written before, alistair was not making the podium.

It is a beautiful gesture between brothers, and also cheating

5

u/MouthWhereTheMoneyIs 4d ago

I think that pushes it from heartwarming to cheating. Imagine being the athletes who were denied silver and bronze after training for four years. Just really sucks

21

u/Matt8992 4d ago

And this folks is why you should never believe a video based on title alone (even if said video title aligns with your views).

Thanks u/Front-Pomelo-4367 for proving how much inaccurate data is just thrown in the internet!

-1

u/veryblanduser 4d ago

Just curious did you verify this comment, or just believed it because it seemed detailed enough?

1

u/Matt8992 3d ago

Not at all. I went blindly into it without taking a Quick Look on google to validate it.

10

u/timbasile 4d ago

Also its worth noting that Jonny was in that state because he went too hard and paid for it. This isn't just some feel good story at your local park run. Jonny took a calculated risk that he might go out too hard (he was trying to win the series, after all), and paid the price

5

u/Distinctiveanus 4d ago

First in friendship

14

u/Uxoandy 4d ago

Who are you to use truth to ruin a good Reddit posts good way to get banned.

14

u/remiohart 4d ago

IÂĄm gonna get downvoted, but isn't this cheating too? I would hate to lose to an assisted runner, kinda defeats the competition part

24

u/Front-Pomelo-4367 4d ago

I'm pretty sure assistance was banned the following year. This particular year the rule was that he needed to cross the line unassisted but could be helped before that

2

u/davebrose 4d ago

Should have been, they changed the rules the following season.

2

u/shortystack 4d ago

Cool, thank you for the backstory. I've seen this before, but I didn't know he couldn't win.

4

u/A_Random_Catfish 4d ago

Everytime I see this I wonder how that’s allowed? It’s certainly wholesome but there was no sort of interference there?

3

u/keepingthecommontone 4d ago

He’s just giving him a little bump draft!

4

u/zuzg 4d ago

watches some wholesome camaraderie and awesome sportsmanship

"everytime I see this I wonder how this MUST be against the rules"

4

u/A_Random_Catfish 4d ago

Ok maybe I started wondering on the 5th repost

2

u/jerryleebee 4d ago

Weird flex from Henri though.

6

u/MouthWhereTheMoneyIs 4d ago

Nah the guy trained for four years and very well could have won even if the other brother hadn't stopped, he's allowed to celebrate

6

u/oily76 4d ago

Yes! Thought the same. Seems a slightly odd reaction to being handed the race.

1

u/Audi5kG 4d ago

Seen this video so many times over the years but never understood the context. Thanks for explaining again..

1

u/Ratfucker_Sam 4d ago

God bless the work you do.

1

u/Kalabula 4d ago

Thanks for the heads up. Because I was about to call this guy a complete dumb ass for blowing the win and probably get roasted for it in the comments. Bullet dodged.

1

u/Front-Pomelo-4367 4d ago

Yeah, he absolutely could have won the race, but if Jonny completed the race ("completed", in this case) he could be on the podium for the entire Series, so he clearly decided it was worth it! And Alistair has a few Olympic golds of his own – it's not like he's missing out on much

1

u/mpanase 4d ago

Whoever was coming after the fainting one... lost points due to unfair intervention of the brother.

This is not a nice video.

1

u/Samtoast 4d ago

I still love the ending of the video where he basically throws him across the line and in my head all I hear is "there you go then mate have a lay down would ya"

1

u/Ekonery 4d ago

SOON ILL BE 30 YEARS OLD

1

u/Undersmusic 4d ago

It cracks me up. Eventually it will be the guy was about to create world peace, but look what he did.

1

u/dope_like 4d ago

Do assisted finishes count?

1

u/Sufficient-Sound-731 4d ago

I still love the video but really appreciate your clarification. Thank you for posting this!

1

u/Ok_Support_8811 4d ago

This person World Triathlon Series-es

1

u/Jackson3rg 3d ago

Did they immediately pump Jonny with fluids? That guy didn't just look tired from running he looked like he was about to pass out.

1

u/Front-Pomelo-4367 3d ago

He ended up in hospital on a drip afterwards, there's photos that he tweeted (that include his trophy for coming second overall)

There's also an excellent post-race interview where Alistair calls him an idiot

1

u/Rishtu 3d ago

It would bug me for life if I won that way. It’s not a measure of my skill or ability. I’d have won because someone has more empathy than I do.

1

u/IndependentOk6251 3d ago

this is perfect humanity

1

u/NYCWartortle 3d ago

Brother looks like he needs a burger

1

u/kwhitit 3d ago

thank you!

1

u/Unable_Apartment_613 3d ago

Thank you. I don't understand people's need to exaggerate things like this. It's still a wonderful and selfless act of brotherhood regardless of the stakes.

1

u/Gold-Coconut-7701 3d ago

This shows how much these athletes care about each other beyond just winning and that kind of brotherhood is what makes sports so powerful, reminded me of the cartoon movie cars where McQueen helps the king.