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If success in the triathlon means wins at the Hawaii Ironman and at the Olympics, then Swiss women rule. Brigitte McMahon-Huber took home the gold medal in a dramatic victory at triathlon's Olympic debut in Sydney in September, beating favorite Michellie Jones of Australia by a scant two seconds. Magali Messmer captured the bronze, and less than a month later, Natascha Badmann overcame some of the most trying weather conditions on the Big Island to become the first mom to win the Hawaii Ironman.

Magali Messmer

Despite the big wins, Badmann says it's mere coincidence that the Swiss women are on top of the triathlon world. "I've been on the top level for the last six years. Magali just appeared last year, and Brigitte too. Before 1999, Brigitte was a nobody. Although she was always a good swimmer, she would fall back in the bike competition, and she couldn't run fast," says Badmann, who opted not to go to the Olympics, even though she had earned the third spot on the team. "I trained hard for the Olympics, and tried very hard to improve my swimming. But I realized in April that my swimming wasn't strong enough. I didn't want to go to the Olympics just to go. So I went to the Ironman again, which is my strength."

With a one kilometer swim, 40 kilometer bike ride and 10 kilometer run, the Olympic distance is a much different beast from the Ironman. In shorter triathlons like Sydney, the field is tight and drafting on the bike is legal. "The Olympic triathlon is nothing like the original. I cannot imagine the brutality with 50 women at the start," Badmann says. "I'm not a brutal person, and I was always getting hit. I trained to be harder or rougher, but that's not my nature."

As the first mom to win the Hawaii Ironman, Badmann, 33, exudes a gentle sense of gratitude, humility and awe of nature.

"Like a lot of women, I started triathlon after the birth of my daughter," she said in a recent phone interview from Los Angeles where she spent a few days after the Ironman before flying home to Switzerland. "I was putting on weight, and I always tried to diet. But by the end of the week, I'd had enough yogurt.

"I finally lost weight when I started eating spaghetti and moving. It's never too late to go for your dream - it can give you a better life," says the soft-spoken Badmann, who is from Oftringen, canton Aargau. "When I started doing triathlons, it gave my life another turn, another focus. People often ask me why I laugh at the whole Ironman. It's not that I laugh, it's that I smile. I like what I'm doing, and I like my life. I had harder times before when I didn't enjoy life. That's why I can enjoy it more today. Without my family, I would never have been able to try at such a high level."

As in her victory speech at Kona, Badmann graciously encouraged her fellow triathletes. "If you get to the finish line by your own force, then you know it was your own strength that brought you to that point. There will come a time [during a race] when you think you can't go on. But when you get over that point, you will be so proud of yourself. No one can give that feeling to you as a gift. [That sense of accomplishment] will be with you the rest of your life," said Badmann, who was greeted by a thousand cheering fans when she, her husband, Tony, and their 13-year-old daughter, Anastasia, arrived at the Zurich-Kloten airport a few days after the interview.

Despite the glow of victory, last month's Ironman was anything but easy. Forty mile per hour "mumuku" winds almost blew Badmann and other competitors off their bikes. The 90 degree heat didn't help either. As in 1998, Badmann and Peter Reid of Victoria, B.C., were the victors. Badmann's time of 9 hours, 26 minutes included a blistering bike leg where she averaged almost 22 miles an hour.

"I spread out my wings, and flew through the wind," Badmann said in her victory speech. "Out in the lava fields, I was so thankful to be there and grateful of how strong nature is."

NBC will broadcast two hours of highlights from last month's race on Nov. 12. The legendary event, that includes a 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike and 26.2 mile run, started the triathlon craze almost a quarter century ago.

One of the top triathletes in the world since winning her first world championship in 1995, Badmann has won more than 20 international titles. Her victories at Kona have been especially sweet. "Hawaii for me is a special place. It has a big spirit. It's completely different from other races. There's wonderful water, and fish and turtles. The water temperature is 27 degrees (Centigrade), which not even heated pools in Switzerland have," says Badmann, who this year in Hawaii beat Lori Bowden, one of the sport's premier cyclists, by more than 2 ½ minutes overall and by a full 15 minutes on the bike. At her first Hawaii Ironman in 1996, Badmann finished second to the legendary Paula Newby-Fraser.

Olympic winner McMahon-Huber, who is also a mom to three-year-old Dominic, has been a strong presence in triathlon since 1999. She took second at both the Sydney and Lausanne ITU World Cups, and third in the Swiss Triathlon Championships. In the Olympics, the 33-year-old from canton Zug, started the run in 13th place. During the last lap of the race, she led Jones, who was favored to win the gold, by a shoulder. When Jones tried to pass her several hundred meters before the finish, McMahon-Huber set in motion the unstoppable kick her husband-coach Mike had trained her to do and never looked back.

Like McMahon-Huber, Messmer, 29, has not had a long triathlon career. Yet she expected to do well in the Olympics. "My goal was to do my best, to have fun and, if everything went all right, I knew that a medal was possible," said Messmer in an e-mail interview.

The race in Sydney went well for Messmer once she got on the bike. "In the water, I thought I had missed the first group because I could not swim well, and there were big fights with other competitors. But I was feeling very well on the bike, and my first lap on the run course was quiet easy," says Messmer, who hails from Bex in canton Vaud.

Magali Messmer

In reality, Messmer did better in the swim leg than she thought, finishing fifth and two spots ahead of McMahon-Huber. The bronze medal capped off a banner racing year for Messmer in which she won the Swiss Triathlon Championships. In the 2000 European championships, she finished second in the individual category and first in the team category.

Despite the big European wins, the Olympics was a different experience for Messmer. "I was surprised by the crowd, and also to be in such a big group at the front of the race. I didn't have a weak leg that day - you can't have a weakness to have an Olympic medal."

On sharing the Olympic victory stand with a fellow Swiss, Messmer, who finished 28 seconds behind McMahon-Huber, was nonplussed. "For me, the fact that Brigitte won the gold was the same as if another girl had won. I knew Brigitte could win, and I was just happy. I have a bronze medal, and that's most important. But I am happy that Brigitte and I made our country cry of happiness. People were very happy because we were two Swiss on the podium. An Olympic medal is much more important than every other medal or victory. That is a great feeling."

For more on the Swiss women triathletes, the Sydney Olympics and the Hawaii Ironman visit the following sites in English and German: www.trisydney2000.ch ; www.ironmanlive.com ; and www.trisuisse.ch .