Paris 2024 Olympics: Meet Alex Yee, the triathlon champion making waves
Alex Yee won the Olympic men’s triathlon in the most dramatic circumstances at the Paris 2024.
Running in second for most of the race behind New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde, the Team GB athlete mounted an incredible comeback despite trailing by 15 seconds.
With just a few hundred metres to go, Yee overtook Wilde and snatched gold right at the death, an emphatic triathlon run to improve on his silver medal performance at Tokyo 2020 three years ago.
But who is Alex Yee? Get to know the British triathlon star and now Olympic triathlon champion.
Alex Yee, from Lewisham to the world
Yee is from Lewisham in south-east London, and like anyone from the leafy London borough, he is extremely proud of it.
His Instagram bio reads “Lewisham to the World”, a tribute to the place in which he was born and raised.
That tribute was reciprocated after his gold in the triathlon mixed relay in Tokyo. Local artist Lionel Stanhope created a special mural for Yee, depicting his name on his medal on the name of the specific area he grew up in, Brockley.
Yee told Team GB in 2021, “I still feel like a normal boy from south-east London. I hope I can serve as inspiration to people to show this is possible. I’m not anything special, I just really enjoy sport and have been really lucky.”
The 26-year-old has a multicultural background; his father is of People's Republic of China origin and was born in Mozambique, while his mother is British.
He was also shaped by the multiculturalism of Lewisham and London as a whole, representing Team GB in competition.
Alex Yee, from serious injury to two-time Olympic gold medallist
Yee has overcome major adversity in his career. In 2017 at a Triathlon World Cup race in Italy, he crashed and suffered broken ribs, a damaged vertebrae and a collapsed lung.
It was around the same time he was sitting his final school exams, but Yee recovered and came back stronger, learning from the experience.
“For me, it was the start of realising there is more to life and there are more important things,” he told the Amazing Starts Here podcast. “It gave me perspective on wanting to give triathlon a go.”
Yee’s triathlon gold medal on Wednesday (31 July) is his third Olympic medal, having won silver in the men’s triathlon and gold in the mixed relay at Tokyo 2020.
His first individual gold cam in a picturesque location, running through the streets of Paris and finishing on the stunning Pont Alexandre III with the Parisian skyline as the background.
There was some foreshadowing of what was to come back in August 2023, where Yee won the Paris 2024 Olympic test event. He also has seven world series wins to his name, as well as two Commonwealth golds and two world championships medals.
Yee inspired by Britain’s greatest long-distance athletes
Yee has had no shortage of role models to look up to in British athletics – he was at the men’s triathlon at London 2012 where brothers Alistair Brownlee and Jonathan Brownlee won gold and bronze respectively for Great Britain.
Nine years later, he won gold in the triathlon mixed relay alongside the latter in Tokyo, a remarkable journey from watching on as a fan to running alongside Brownlee.
Yee was also praised by Sir Mo Farah early on in his career for running a quicker 5km time than him, bringing his name into the spotlight.
He was inspired by the greats that came before him, and now it is the Lewisham boy’s turn to inspire the next generation.