View source for Simon Lessing

{{Short description|British triathlete (born 1971)}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2016}}
{{Infobox triathlete
 | name = Simon Christopher Lessing
 | honorific_suffix = [[Order of the British Empire|MBE]]
 | country = Great Britain
 | nickname = 
 | image = SimonLessing2.jpg
 | imagesize = 
 | caption = Simon Lessing at Lake Placid
 | birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1971|02|12}}
 | birth_place = Cape Town, South Africa
 | death_date = 
 | death_place = 
 | height = 
 | weight = 
 | retired = 2008
 | sport = [[Triathlon]]
 | turned pro = 
 | show-medals = No
 | medaltemplates = 
{{MedalSport | Men's [[Triathlon]]}}
{{MedalCountry | {{GBR2}} }}
{{MedalCompetition|[[ITU Triathlon World Championships|ITU World Championships]]}}
{{MedalGold| [[1992 ITU Triathlon World Championships|1992 Huntsville]] | Individual}}
{{MedalGold| [[1995 ITU Triathlon World Championships|1995 Cancún]] | Individual}}
{{MedalGold| [[1996 ITU Triathlon World Championships|1996 Cleveland]] | Individual}}
{{MedalGold| [[1998 ITU Triathlon World Championships|1998 Lausanne]] | Individual}}
{{MedalSilver| [[1993 ITU Triathlon World Championships|1993 Manchester]] | Individual}}
{{MedalSilver| 1999 Montreal | Individual}}
{{MedalBronze| [[1997 ITU Triathlon World Championships|1997 Perth]] | Individual}}
{{MedalCompetition|[[ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championships|ITU Long Distance World Championships]]}}
{{MedalGold| 1995 | Individual}}
{{MedalCompetition| ETU European Championships}}
{{MedalGold| 1991 | Individual}}
{{MedalGold| 1993 | Individual}}
{{MedalGold| 1994 | Individual}}
{{MedalCompetition|[[Ironman 70.3|Ironman World Championship 70.3]]}}
{{MedalSilver| 2006 | Individual }}
{{MedalCompetition|[[Goodwill Games]]}}
{{MedalGold| 1994 St Petersburg Russia| Individual}}
{{MedalGold| 1998 New York USA| Individual}}
}}

'''Simon Christopher Lessing''', [[Order of the British Empire|MBE]], (born 12 February 1971) is a British [[triathlete]] who won five [[International Triathlon Union]] (ITU) world titles (1992, 1995(2), 1996 and 1998).<ref name="SR profile">{{cite web|url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/le/simon-lessing-1.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418025520/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/le/simon-lessing-1.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=18 April 2020|title = Simon Lessing profile|year=2008|publisher=Sports Reference|accessdate=17 September 2013}}</ref> He also won races at [[Ironman 70.3|70.3]] (Half Ironman), [[ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championships|ITU long distance]] and [[Ironman Triathlon|Ironman]]-distance events. He set an Olympic-distance world record in 1996, and is noted for his 2004 Ironman Lake Placid win, where he set a course record of 8:23:12. In 2008 he retired from professional racing.<ref name="Reflections">{{cite web|url=http://www.slowtwitch.com/Interview/Simon_Lessing_Reflections_on_life_after_a_brilliant_career__554.html|title=Simon Lessing: Reflections on life after a brilliant career|last=Carlson|first=Timothy|date=3 October 2008|accessdate=17 September 2013|publisher=Slowtwitch.com}}</ref> Simon resides in [[Boulder, Colorado]], United States,<ref name="SR profile"/> where he operates Boulder Coaching with Darren de Reuck.<ref name="Boulder Coaching information">{{cite web | url = http://www.bouldercoaching.com/ | title = Boulder Coaching | year = 2008 | publisher = Boulder Coaching | accessdate = 31 December 2008}}</ref>

He was appointed a [[Member of the Order of the British Empire]] (MBE) in the [[2000 New Year Honours]] for services to triathlon.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=55710 |date=30 December 1999 |page=36  |supp=y}}</ref>

== Athletic career ==

=== Early years ===
Born in [[Cape Town]], Western Cape South Africa, Lessing completed school at [[Kloof High School]] in [[Kloof]] near Durban.  Table Mountain was the backdrop to his formative years. His father and mother (who was a swim coach) supported him. By the end of his fifth year at school, he had won honours in swimming, sailing and biathlon and was known as a cross-country runner. When Lessing was 9, his family moved to Durban, a port city set on the East Coast.

Growing up, surfing and rugby were two of the major sports in Durban, but Lessing resisted the pressure to make the change to these activities. He trained an average of 3 hours a day in his areas of interest: sailing, swimming, track, cross-country and duathlon.{{citation needed|date=September 2013}} He developed an interest in hiking and hiked in the Drakensberg Mountain range. His swim coach, David McCarney, encouraged Lessing to try a family oriented race he organised at Kloof High School. In 1988, Lessing was the South African triathlon champion.<ref name="Reflections"/> He was selected to represent South Africa in a biathlon but suffered a broken leg in an accident during a local triathlon.{{citation needed|date=September 2013}}

Lessing moved to Britain at age 18 and continued his international sporting career in Europe. He was entitled to dual citizenship because his mother was born in England.

===Professional racing===
[[File:SimonLessing8.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Simon Lessing running a triathlon]]
During the 1990s he and rival [[Spencer Smith (triathlete)|Spencer Smith]], were among some of the most successful athletes in Olympic distance triathlon. Lessing won the ITU Olympic Distance Triathlon World Championship in 1992, 1995, 1996, and 1998. In 1996, Lessing broke the Olympic distance triathlon world record with a time of 1 hour, 39 minutes, 50 seconds in 1996 at the [[1996 ITU Triathlon World Championships|ITU Triathlon World Championships in Cleveland]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rbZMg7CGnKYC&pg=PA421|page=421|title=Guinness World Records 2008|publisher=Random House|date=April 2008|isbn=9780553589955}}</ref>

Lessing competed in the [[Escape from Alcatraz (triathlon)|Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon]] held annually in [[San Francisco Bay]]. He has won the men's elite division there three times: 1996, 2003 and 2004. Lessing competed at the first Olympic games triathlon at the [[2000 Summer Olympics]]. He took ninth place with a total time of 1:49:24.32.<ref name="SR profile"/>
Simon was Inducted into the International Triathlon Union Hall of Fame in 2014 and Inducted into the Boulder Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.

===Long course racing===
[[File:SimonLessing6.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Simon Lessing in the bike portion of a triathlon]]
Lessing's first attempt at long course triathlon took place in 1993 on the [[Nice]] triathlon course, in the [[Côte d'Azur]]. In the race he stayed with 9-time defending champion [[Mark Allen (triathlete)|Mark Allen]] until within 5 kilometres of the finish. He went on to win the Nice race in 1995.

Lessing has won numerous [[Ironman 70.3]] races, including the inaugural Ironman 70.3 Florida in 2004, and again in 2005. In 2005, he set a then course record at the [[Wildflower triathlon]].<ref>{{cite web|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060221022604/http://www.tricalifornia.com/wildflower/2006/|archivedate=21 February 2006 |url=http://www.tricalifornia.com/wildflower/2006/records.htm|title=Course Records|publisher=TriCalifornia.com|accessdate=17 September 2013}}</ref> The next year he took first place at the Ironman 70.3 Vineman. In August 2007 Lessing won the Ironman Timberman 70.3. 

====Ironman====
In July 2004, Lessing qualified for the 2004 Ironman World Championships with a win and course record of 8:23:12 at [[Ironman Triathlon|Ironman]] [[Lake Placid, New York|Lake Placid]]. In his first appearance at the Ironman World Championships (2004) he dropped out halfway into the bike leg, due to the high winds and problems with his back.

Lessing did not complete the marathon at the 2005 Ironman Coeur d'Alene and failed to qualify there for [[Ironman World Championship]]. He raced again the same summer and qualified for the World Championships by taking 4th place at Ironman Canada in Penticton in a time of 8:43:13. He did not complete the marathon at the 2005 World Championships.

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.simonlessing.net Official website]

{{Footer World Champions Triathlon Men}}
{{Footer World Champions Triathlon Men Long}}
{{Footer European Champions Triathlon Men}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lessing, Simon}}
[[Category:1971 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:British male triathletes]]
[[Category:Olympic triathletes for Great Britain]]
[[Category:Triathletes at the 2000 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Triathlon coaches]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Cape Town]]
[[Category:South African emigrants to the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Triathletes at the 2002 Commonwealth Games]]
[[Category:Commonwealth Games triathletes for England]]
[[Category:Goodwill Games medalists in triathlon]]
[[Category:Competitors at the 1994 Goodwill Games]]
[[Category:Competitors at the 1998 Goodwill Games]]
[[Category:South African male triathletes]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Durban]]
[[Category:South African people of English descent]]