Indonesian athlete Andy Wibowo still wants to achieve success in the prestigious Ironman World Championship before he finally retires from triathlon.
Andy is a former swimmer who now focuses more on triathlons. At 45, he still actively participates in several triathlon and long-distance running tournaments.
"In this triathlon, I want to be the first (Indonesian) to finish on the podium at the Ironman Hawaii World Championships. That's one of my dreams, but it hasn't come true yet," Andy said when met in Tangerang on Wednesday.
The Ironman World Championship is a triathlon event held annually in Hawaii, United States, from 1978 to 2022. It is owned and organized by the World Triathlon Corporation. The championship is the annual culmination of a series of Ironman triathlon qualifying races held around the world.
The figure who participated in the 2004 Olympics as a 100 meter swimmer then said that in his last participation in the Ironman World Championship, he only placed 40th.
Regarding triathlon development, Andy stated that there are quite a lot of young talent in the sport. However, many of these talents remain untapped and under-recognized.
For the future, Andy also hopes that triathlon athletes can be trained from the start, and not rely on former athletes from other sports who then switch paths.
"In Indonesia, triathlon probably gets little attention. Meanwhile, in countries where triathlon is already well-developed, they have special training. These children are truly prepared from a young age to become triathlon athletes, not just any athletes," said the former 100-meter swimmer.