Alistair Brownlee helped his younger sibling Jonny over the finish line for second and third place Sunday at the end of the World Triathlon Series final race in Cozumel, Mexico, giving a new meaning to The Hollies' song "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother."
Jonny Brownlee, who was attempting to win the race to overcome Spaniard Mario Mola in the final World Triathlon Series standings, appeared to become overtaken by the heat and began weaving across the course with less than a kilometer to go, according to The Guardian.
The British athlete stopped at the side of the road before the finish line as South African racer Henri Schoeman passed him to grab the win, The Guardian noted. Brownlee's brother, 2016 Rio Olympic triathlon champion Alistair Brownlee, who was comfortably in third, stopped, grabbed his brother and helped him across the final meters.
Alistair Brownlee even pushed his brother ahead of him at the finish, assuring he would get second place and him third, noted The Guardian.
Mola still won the overall title by four points but the Spanish Triathlon Federation attempted to get Jonny Brownlee's finish thrown out altogether by asking for his disqualification because of the assist by his brother, the BBC News reported. The appeal, though was rejected by the International Triathlon Union.
"I have been in that position before, when it happened to me in London a few years ago, I remember being in second place and then coming around and someone telling me I was in 10th," Alistair Brownlee said on the International Triathlon Union's website.
"I couldn't remember all of those people passing me. So I swore that, literally if it happened to anyone I would help them across the line. It is an awful position to be in, if he clunks out (one kilometer) from the finish line there is no medical support, it is a dangerous position to be in. Obviously the World Series is a big race, but I just had to do what was right in that situation," he added.
Jonny Brownlee thanked his brother in a Twitter post as he was hospitalized after the race.
Mola, who finished fifth in the race, good enough for give him the overall series title, complained about the helping hand provided by Alistair Brownlee, noted the ITU website.
"Luckily I was able to be in the top five considering Jonny didn't win the race," Mola said, according to the ITU website. "To be honest, I was already considering that the role of Alistair was to help Jonny. Considering that, I thought, well I'm going to be second again, but at least I will fight until the end. And when I heard Jonny isn't feeling well, I thought 'I need to fight to the end.' We want everyone to be safe after the finish line, it's not the way I wanted it, but that's triathlon."
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