While watching Victoria’s Simon Whitfield take a silver in the Olympic Triathalon event a concept came up that had piqued my interest previously while watching the Tour de France.
Simon Whitfield entered the race with two other Canadians, Paul Tichelaar and Colin Jenkins. Paul came in a respectable 28th and Colin came in dead last – nearly eight minutes behind the winner. At first blush, Colin’s performance appears to be disappointing.
However, and here’s the nifty part, Simon Whitfield’s Silver medal seems to indicate that Colin Jenkins performed his role in the race perfectly. Colin, was Whitfield’s “domestique“. The word conjurers up all sorts of menial imagery, and it should, its french for “servant”. You should check out the wikipedia entry for more info, but the overall point is that the domestique does the dirty work for the team star.
Typically in road racing Domestiques carry water and food so that the leaders don’t have to. They’ll swap bikes in case of mechanical failure and in the case of Colin and Simon, they’ll ride in front of the star so that they may slipstream, preserving vital energy for the finish.
In the Tour de France the role of the domestique is often associated with an unoffical position dubbed “The Lanterne Rouge” – so named after the lantern on the last car of train that indicates the very end. On the latest Tour the honour went to the most prolific tour loser ever, Belgian Wim Vansevenant. Wim has the amazing distinction of coming dead last in the last three Tours. A new record for the Laterne. The Wall Street Journal wrote a great peice on Wim and the Laterne Rouge that i found quite compelling. His coach had a wonderful quote:
“He can ride at the front all day when we need him to,” said Mr. Sergeant as he stood beside Mr. Vansevenant near their team bus. “But when his part is done, he has the intelligence to know he should relax so he can come back strong the next day.”
It was in the article that I discovered the connection between Wim Vansevenant and Colin Jenkins.
They were both team domestiques. Wim and Colin both came dead last in the pinnacle race of their chosen sports so that someone else could win.
The National Post detailed Colin’s role in the triathalon, coming in 4th place during the cycling section with Whitfield drafting behind, then flat out stopping to cheer Simon on during the running. He was, apparently, selected over fitter, better athletes for the olmypic team as he was strong in cycling, where he could be the most helpful.
It’s just so damned compelling. The domestique is a wonderful display of self-sacrifice, but, and I think this is what resonates, it’s an admission that you know you aren’t going to win. I think that would be awfully hard to come to terms with.
So, Colin Jenkins, I salute you and your 50th place. Congratulations on a job well done and a job done right.
Some Colin Jenkins stuff:
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