London, 2012 (Men): Racing in front of his home fans, Alistair Brownlee won the gold medal, the first Olympic triathlon medal for Great Britain. His younger brother, Jonathan, received the bronze after finishing behind Spain's Javier Gomez. 

London, 2012 (Women): In a dramatic photo-finish, Switzerland's Nicola Spirig edged Sweden's Lisa Norden for the gold medal. American Sarah Groff was 10 seconds off the podium, behind bronze medalist Erin Densham of Australia. Fellow U.S. triathlete Gwen Jorgensen finishing 38th after suffering a flat tire on the bicycle portion of the competition.

Beijing, 2008 (Men): Jan Frodeno of Germany won the men's triathlon, edging Simon Whitfield of Canada in an exciting four-man sprint finish. Whitfield led momentarily just a few yards from the finish line, but Frodeno raced past him to win by about five seconds. Bevan Docherty of New Zealand took the bronze. 

Beijing, 2008 (Women): Emma Snowsill had time to grab a flag, slow down and wave before crossing the finish line to win the first Olympic triathlon gold medal for Australia. She finished more than a minute ahead of the field. Vanessa Fernandes of Portugal won the silver, and Emma Moffatt of Australia took the bronze.

Athens, 2004 (Men): The men's event saw Kiwis reach the top of the podium with Hamish Carter of New Zealand besting compatriot Bevan Docherty. Docherty led Cater by seven seconds after the 1.5km swim, but Carter made up the difference and opened a five-second lead after the 40km bike ride and never looked back. Sven Riederer of Switzerland took home the bronze. Simon Whitfield of Canada, the gold medalist in Sydney, finished 11th. Americans Andy Potts and Hunter Kemper finished 22 and 9th, respectively.

Athens, 2004 (Women): Austria's Kate Allen was the surprise winner of the women's event. At the end of the triathlon's first leg -- the swim -- Allen was in 44th place. But with a strong bike performance over a difficult 40km course, she worked her way up to 12th going into the run, two minutes, 52 seconds behind leader Loretta Harrop of Australia. Allen made up the difference over the 10km run, passing Harrop in the final meters of the race. Allen finished with a time of 2:04:43.45 -- seven seconds ahead of Harrop.

Sydney, 2000 (Men): With an estimated 300,000 spectators lining the course, Canada's Simon Whitfield became the first Olympic men's triathlon champion by surging past Germany's Stephan Vuckovic in the final 250 meters of the run. Prior to this victory, Whitfield never placed higher than seventh in a major world-class event. Four-time world champion Simon Lessing of Great Britain and reigning world champion Olivier Marceau of France were in good position throughout the swim and cycling legs, but faded in the run, opening the door for Whitfield's unexpected victory.

Sydney, 2000 (Women): In the first Olympic women's triathlon, American Sheila Taormina, who competed in swimming at the 1996 Games, predictably led after the opening leg. But Australian favorite Michellie Jones, backed by an exuberant hometown crowd and helped by a quick transition from bike to run, had a narrow advantage to start the footrace for gold. On the final lap, in the shadow of Sydney's Opera House, Switzerland's Brigitte McMahon shadowed Jones. With a stirring final sprint, McMahon pulled away to win by 2.03 seconds. Another Swiss, Magali Messmer, finished well back in third.