Bevan Docherty Athlete
Bevan John Docherty (born 29 March 1977) is a triathlete from New Zealand who twice won medals at the Olympic Games. Docherty attended Tauhara College, Taupo. In 2004 he won the ITU world championship and the silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens behind fellow New Zealander Hamish Carter. At the 2006 Commonwealth Games Docherty again won silver. At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, he finished 3rd, winning the bronze medal. The former world champion has started a new initiative, called "The Docherty Dares programme", aimed at supporting Kiwis to achieve goals they previously never thought possible. The programme was inspired when Bevan saw Christchurch man Scott Kotoul cross the finish line at the Round Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge. Near exhaustion after only doing half the distance (80 km), Kotoul said he was only going to do 40 km next year. But Docherty dared Kotoul to enter the entire 160 km next year. He accepted the challenge. Docherty this year hopes to help five Kiwis in a similar vein. Docherty is currently sponsored by Avanti Bikes, and at the end of 2008 was ranked 2nd in the world.