ABU DHABI // Standing side by side in the warm sand along the Corniche, Olympic medallists Jonathan and Alistair Brownlee dutifully waited for the television interrogation to proceed.
Eventually the sound man asked the British brothers to count out some numbers aloud so the recording level of their clip-on microphones could be adjusted.
Little brother Jonny, 23, went first, counting forward to 10.
Perhaps predictably, big brother Ali, 25, started at 10 and counted backwards, with both simultaneously spouting numbers like a pair of disjointed singers murdering a two-part harmony.
It was a crystalline example of how the Brothers Brownlee, English heroes at the London Olympic Games, are cut from the same cloth, but with slightly different scissors. Yet again, they took two paths to arrive at the same point, almost simultaneously.
The brothers are showpieces of the fifth Abu Dhabi Triathlon on Saturday, where beating that guy from the same Yorkshire household will likely be good enough to win the race.
Click here to see The National’s map of the 2014 triathlon course
Ali, the reigning Olympic gold medallist, is the defending Abu Dhabi champion, while Jonny, who won the bronze in London, is making his first UAE appearance – a familiar family dynamic of big brother blazing the trail and the younger sibling playing catch-up.
From his days in swaddling clothes, according to family lore, Jonny tried so hard to keep pace with his big brother that he developed bloody knees from crawling along behind. Two decades later, the chase continues.
They train together like allies but, once the horn sounds, the sibling rivalry usually blooms.
For years Jonny could never beat Ali in a race, though that is no longer the case. Apparently it is a delicate subject.
“No, it’s OK, pretty much everybody asks that,” Ali said. “Yeah, he’s beaten me a couple of times. But never in a proper race.”
Jonny, just out of earshot, heard only a portion of the last bit and interjected.
And so it goes. They trade training tips, barbs and occasionally gang up on opponents in what has become perhaps the most mutually beneficial tandem in triathlon history.
Since living under the same roof removes any need for decorum, they say things about the other that nobody else would dare utter, like when Jonny blew a chance last autumn to win a race in Hyde Park and Ali called him a “tactical numpty” for starting his finishing kick too soon.
“I saw him make his move with about 200 metres to go and I thought, ‘Oh no, what an idiot’,” Ali said.
They have given the English sport sections colourful fodder at times but a sense of respect exists, too.
“I take a lot of inspiration from Alistair,” Jonny said this week. “Alistair is one of those people who goes ahead and does things, and does a lot. When I see Alistair achieve something, it makes me feel I can achieve it as well.”
Ali gets a competitive kick in the backside from his brother, too, which helps them both keep their edge.
“I think it goes both ways, you know?” Ali said. “I think Jonny described it best as a ‘spring’, which is brilliant, really. If I get a little ahead, the onus is on him to spring back towards me. If he gets a bit closer, it’s on me to spring a bit away. It’s a nice way of looking at it.”
Big brother is a bit more spontaneous and glib, while Jonny is more into rote and routine. They push each other to adapt.
“There’s lots of different factors and influences,” Ali said. “The first big thing is that the other one is there every day to motivate the other. I might be going training, and Jonny doesn’t want to. It makes both of us get out the door, which is very important.
“In those hard sessions when one of you doesn’t particularly feel like it and the other one does, you push that little bit harder. That’s fantastic and a massive advantage.
“There’s the more metaphorical advantage of seeing someone do something slightly different and maybe giving it a go. With two people, you can constantly see and review what other people do.
“Then the races, being able to race together, going through the same trials and tribulations, and the tactics we can employ, it’s really good.”
As the pair led a tutorial session for area school kids at an Abu Dhabi beach club on Wednesday, their personalities shone through like the broiling midday sun.
Jonny, the more deferential and unassuming, dived right in and offered some instructional tips. Meanwhile, the cockier and self-confident Ali, stationed nearby, mostly posed for photos and exchanged wisecracks with pupils.
Eventually, an event organiser posed a series of questions and asked the kids for a show of hands.
“Who wants to go swimming with Ali?” he asked.
Two-dozen voices cried out and every arm shot up.
“OK, who thinks they can beat him?” the organiser asked. Silence.
There are few in the field on Saturday that would have raised a hand, either. In fact, after travelling all the way to the UAE, the Brownlees might find that their toughest foe is not to be found in the waters of the Arabian Gulf – it is the guy swimming in the same gene pool.
“Obviously,” Ali said, “the field is a bit more difficult this year with Jonny involved.”
More entertaining, too.
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