Francisco Javier Gómez Noya Athlete
Francisco Javier Gómez Noya (born 25 March 1983) is a Galician triathlete. Born to Spanish immigrants in Basel, Switzerland, he soon returned to Spain and now lives in Ferrol, Galicia. He won the 2008 ITU Triathlon World Championships in Vancouver. The pre-race favourite to win the 2008 Summer Olympics men's triathlon on Tuesday, August 19, Gómez, suffering from a stitch, placed 4th, 20.64 seconds behind Jan Frodeno of Germany, who won the gold. With 300 meters to go, Frodeno was the leader of the group made of 2008 world champion Javier Francisco Gomez of Spain, Athens 2004 silver medalist Bevan Docherty of New Zealand and Sydney 2000 gold medalist Simon Whitfield of Canada. Whitfield opened up the sprint to test the hearts of his competition. Only Frodeno could respond and sprinted away with 50 meters from the finish to claim the gold medal in a time of one hour, 48 minutes and 53 seconds. Canadian Simon Whitfield took the silver medal five seconds behind, and New Zealand's Bevan Docherty won the bronze medal 12 seconds back. In the 2010 ITU Triathlon World Championship final in Budapest, Gómez came second to British triathlete Alistair Brownlee, but despite the loss in the final, he won the Championship overall.
