Jan Frodeno at the 2006 German Championship in Schliersee. |
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Personal information | |||||||||||||
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Nickname(s) | Frodo[1] | ||||||||||||
Born | 18 August 1981 Cologne, Germany |
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Residence | Cape Town, South Africa[2] | ||||||||||||
Height | 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) | ||||||||||||
Weight | 75 kg (165 lb) | ||||||||||||
Other interests | Beach Volleyball, Surfing, Cooking[1] | ||||||||||||
Sport | |||||||||||||
Country | Germany | ||||||||||||
Club | Tri-Sport Saar-Hochwald e. V. | ||||||||||||
Coached by | Wolfgang Thiel | ||||||||||||
Medal record
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Jan Frodeno (born 18 August 1981) is a German triathlete. He won gold in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
Born in Cologne, Frodeno started out as a swimmer in South Africa at the age of 15, and he entered triathlon in 2000.[3] He then went to Germany to compete in the Bundesliga, and qualified for the national team in 2002.[3] He currently trains at the Olympic Training Centre in Saarbrücken.[1] Before his Olympic victory, his best result was placing sixth in the 2007 World Championships,[2] and winning the German Championship the same year.[4] He had previously also placed second and third in various races of the World Cup from 2005 to 2008.[2]
His gold medal win at the 2008 Summer Olympics was a surprise.[5] He beat the 2000 Olympic champion Simon Whitfield in a sprint finish, while the hot pre-race favorite and 2008 World Champion Javier Gómez finished in fourth place.[5] The victory came the day after his twenty-seventh birthday.
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