Simon Christopher Lessing, MBE, (born 12 February 1971) is a British triathlete who won five International Triathlon Union (ITU) world titles (1992, 1995(2), 1996 and 1998). He also won races at 70.3 (Half Ironman), ITU long distance and Ironman-distance events. He set an Olympic-distance world record in 1996, and is noted for his 2004 Ironman Lake Placid win, where he set a course record of 8:23:12. In 2008 he retired from professional racing. Simon resides in Boulder, Colorado, United States, where he operates Boulder Coaching with Darren de Reuck. Athletic career Early years Born in Cape Town, Western Cape South Africa, Lessing completed school at Kloof High School in Durban. Table Mountain was the backdrop to his formative years. His father and mother (who was a swim coach) supported him. By the end of his fifth year at school, he had won honours in swimming, sailing and biathlon and was known as a cross-country runner. When Lessing was 9, his family moved to Durban, a port city set on the East Coast. Growing up, surfing and rugby were two of the major sports in Durban, but Lessing resisted the pressure to make the change to these activities. He trained an average of 3 hours a day in his areas of interest: sailing, swimming, track, cross-country and duathlon. He developed an interest in hiking and hiked in the Drakensberg Mountain range. His swim coach, David McCarney, encouraged Lessing to try a family oriented race he organised at Kloof High School. In 1988, Lessing was the South African triathlon champion. He was selected to represent South Africa in a biathlon but suffered a broken leg in an accident during a local triathlon. Lessing moved to Britain at age 18 and continued his international sporting career in Europe. He was entitled to dual citizenship because his mother was born in England. Professional racing During the 1990s he and rival Spencer Smith, were among some of the most successful athletes in Olympic distance triathlon. Lessing won the ITU Olympic Distance Triathlon World Championship in 1992, 1995, 1996, and 1998. In 1996, Lessing broke the Olympic distance triathlon world record with a time of 1 hour, 39 minutes, 50 seconds in 1996 at the ITU Triathlon World Championships in Cleveland. Lessing competed in the Escape from Alcatraz Triathlon held annually in San Francisco Bay. He has won the men's elite division there three times: 1996,